The Cabinet's special budget request ran aground in the legislature yesterday, as partisan feuding paralyzed the body the entire day and caucuses traded accusations of blame for the inaction.
It will now take an extraordinary session to revive the proposal as the legislature is due to vote on nominees for various leadership posts in the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan before recessing for the summer on Friday.
The, Cabinet, while regretting the development, said it had no intention of pushing for such a session for the time being.
At issue is NT$31.6 billion the Cabinet has said is needed to help pay for flood-prevention measures along the 86km Keelung River before the typhoon season arrives.
DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (
According to Wang, the KMT and PFP insisted on adding NT$1.9 billion to the fund, as demanded by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Meanwhile, the tiny TSU, normally a DPP ally, was seeking to extend the monthly NT$3,000 elderly stipend to retired workers aged 65 and older.
Wang slammed these bills as pork-barrel legislation, which if approved, would seriously harm the nation's finances.
Echoing the concern, departing Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said that the administration held no prejudice against Taipei City when preparing the special budget. The capital city has been excluded from the fund despite Ma's protests.
Lee, who attended the cross-party talks in the legislature, claimed that Taipei would eventually emerge as the biggest beneficiary when the flood-prevention program is completed.
"Let's not politicize the issue or dwell on the cost of the project," he said. "What really matters is whether the government will be discreet when spending the money."
The government's top statistician, Lin Chuan (
But KMT legislators suspected that the exclusion of Ma's constituency from the fund is politically motivated.
"How can the government bypass Taipei City and limit the flood-prevention project to the upstream and downstream parts of the river?" KMT lawmaker Cho Po-yuan (
The Cabinet did not submit the budget proposal until last Friday, when the agenda for the remaining part of the session had been set, he said.
Lin again advised the Presidential Office to request a special session if it needs the extra funding so badly.
Leaders from the four caucuses sought to iron out their differences all morning and afternoon but to no avail. At 5:20pm, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had no choice but to conclude the meeting.
Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) said the Cabinet deplored the development but had not decided what it will do now.
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