The Executive Yuan seems to be at its wit's end while dealing with opposition lawmakers to seek their support for the NT$50 billion job creation program, composed of 100 small public projects.
"Despite KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (
Lin also threw his weight behind Chang Jin-sheng (
Chang criticized Lien for ordering his party to hamper the passage of the bill.
"I believe he meant no harm while making the criticism," Lin said. "My personal interpretation is that the legislature should respect public opinion if there's a discrepancy between the opinions of lawmakers and the public."
In a bid to help push the passage of the project, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen has already met with DPP county commissioners and city mayors to discuss the same issue.
The legislature approved a NT$20 billion public service job creation program in the last legislative session. Under the project, 80,000 jobless people aged between 35 and 65 may work for various government agencies for a monthly salary of NT$20,000.
The NT$50 billion program, dealing with public projects, has met with more resistance partly because the Cabinet wants to pay for it with bonds not subject to limits on the level of public debt, and partly because opposition lawmakers suspect it will be used to trade political favors.
In the wake of Chang's allegation, the pan-blue legislative caucuses have stopped cross-party negotiations with the Cabinet.
A campaign by DPP lawmakers to obtain endorsement of the NT$50 billion bill by 17 county commissioners and city mayors has also upset Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang has painted the move as the Cabinet's "disrespect for the legislature's law-making authority."
If legislative parties fail to reach a consensus over the issue during cross-party negotiations, a showdown over the two job-creation budgets is inevitable.
Last December, the Executive Yuan approved the NT$20 billion project to create public-service jobs and the NT$50 billion public-construction program with the hope of boosting the economic growth rate to 3.52 percent and lowering the unemployment rate to below 4.5 percent this year.
Together the projects are expected to create 115,000 jobs. Each project will last for one year.
The Cabinet had wanted the projects paid for with extraordinary budgets, which would exempt them from legal limits on the amount of money the government can borrow. Opposition parties, on the other hand, want the two projects listed in supplementary budgets to keep public debt under control.
Although the legislature conditionally approved the NT$20 billion bill, it left the funding of the program to be raised with additional budgets.
The legislative budgetary committee also completed the review of the NT$50 billion project but the proposal failed to pass its second and third reading.
Lawmakers want the Cabinet to fund the project with additional budgets and borrow money if necessary to fund the project. This debt will be exempted from the legal limits on the amount of money the government can borrow.
The Cabinet has requested an additional budget of NT$19.9 billion for the NT$20 billion public service program from the legislature.
To fund the NT$50-billion public construction project, the Cabinet plans to issue government bonds totaling NT$45.3 billion. The other NT$4.7 billion will come from the leftover annual budget from the previous year.
Taipei and Kaohsiung have extended an open invitation to Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki after Chinese authorities abruptly canceled her scheduled concert in Shanghai. Hamasaki, 47, had been slated to perform on Saturday before organizers pulled the show at the last minute, citing “force majeure,” a move widely viewed as retaliation for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could draw a military response from Tokyo. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the city “very much welcomes” Hamasaki’s return and would continue to “surprise” her. Hamasaki, who has a large global fan base, including
Starting next month, people who signed up for the TPass 2.0 program can receive a 15 percent rebate for trips on mid to long-distance freeway buses or on buses headed to the east coast twice every month, the Highway Bureau said. Bureau Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said the government started TPass 2.0 to offer rebates to frequent riders of public transportation, or people who use city buses, highway buses, trains or MRTs at least 11 times per month. As of Nov. 12, 265,000 people have registered for TPass 2.0, and about 16.56 million trips between February and September qualified for
The year 2027 is regarded as the year China would likely gain the capability to invade Taiwan, not the year it would launch an invasion, Taiwanese defense experts said yesterday. The experts made the remarks after President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference on Wednesday that his administration would introduce a NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.8 billion) special defense budget bill to boost Taiwan’s overall defense posture over the next eight years. Lai said that Beijing aims for military unification of Taiwan by 2027. The Presidential Office later clarified that what Lai meant was that China’s goal is to “prepare for military unification
‘REGRETTABLE’: Travelers reported that Seoul’s online arrival card system lists Taiwan as ‘China (Taiwan),’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday urged South Korea to correct the way Taiwan is listed in its newly launched e-Arrival card system, saying the current designation downgrades the nation’s status. South Korea rolled out the online system on Feb. 24 to gradually replace paper arrival cards, which it plans to phase out by next year. Travelers must complete the electronic form up to 72 hours before entering the country. The ministry said it has received multiple complaints from Taiwanese travelers saying that the system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in dropdown menus for both “place of departure” and “next
RSS