The legislature yesterday agreed to start deliberating the government’s general budget for this fiscal year after an hour of caucus negotiations, potentially ending 230 days of deadlock.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that the caucuses had resolved to call Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and other Cabinet officials to present President William Lai’s (賴清德) budget on Tuesday next week.
The caucuses said that the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.49 billion) special defense budget bill — the focal point of the deadlock between the Lai administration and the opposition parties, the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — would be sent for another round of negotiations late next week.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would each appoint five caucus members and the TPP one to conduct the interpolation session, after which the budget would enter the legislative review process, Han said.
A TPP motion to reconsider the general budget was rejected, he said.
The Legislative Yuan Finance Committee is to deliver the agenda and the timetable for the budget review to the legislature’s conference department by 5pm today and the general assembly would process the report the following day, Han said.
The DPP has agreed that the Cabinet would make concessions on the matter of benefits and salaries for military personnel and police by amending legislation within six months of the legislature’s handover of the budget to committees, he said.
The Lai administration would also unfreeze 38 opposition-backed projects valued at NT$71.8 billion — including funding for the TPass system, hydraulic engineering and childbirth subsidies — without cuts or delays, Han said.
The negotiations have settled on naming the special defense budget bill the National Security Defense and Asymmetric Warfare Capabilities Enhancement Program Special Funding Act, as the TPP sought, he said.
The Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee and DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) are to separately head discussions about the composition of the bill, while Han would preside over another round of negotiations among the parties, all scheduled for next week, he added.
In response to DPP caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang’s (蔡其昌) pledge to expedite Chen’s report on Monday next week, Han said negotiations by caucus leaders could begin today at the earliest.
The centerpiece of the negotiations would be providing funding for arms procurement and operational expenses, he said.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said the ministry hopes to save time by discussing the special defense budget with lawmakers as the reports are presented ahead of formal deliberations.
Briefing lawmakers on planned purchases of foreign and domestic weapons systems would ease the passage of the budget plan by shedding light on its design, Koo said.
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