The Executive Yuan would not be pressured to implement any resolutions that go against legislative procedures or ethics, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday in response to the legislature rejecting a reconsideration of fiscal planning amendments.
The opposition parties used their combined majority to reject the reconsideration requested on Thursday last week and uphold the original legislation by 59 to 50 votes.
The legislature passed amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) on Nov. 14, which the Cabinet said would be difficult — if not impossible — to implement.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The amendments would impair the central government’s ability to adjust subsidies to local governments, exceed the annual borrowing ceiling and hinder the smooth implementation of central government policies, the Cabinet said.
Party caucuses agreed to review the request yesterday, but did not invite Cho to explain the Cabinet’s reasoning, instead designating one representative from each caucus to speak.
Speaking to reporters before a firefighters’ awards ceremony, Cho said that this outcome was predictable, as the Legislative Yuan did not invite the Cabinet to report on the request.
Some recent situations in the legislature — such as sending bills directly to a second reading and forcing a vote, or reviewing reconsiderations without reports or questioning — are aimed at preventing people from seeing what bills they are trying to pass, he said.
The Cabinet’s report would explain the errors in the amendments so that people are clear on the issues, and questioning would make the dispute more understandable, Cho said.
During yesterday’s review of the request, Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that the opposition has pushed through three flawed amendments to the fiscal planning act.
Cho warned the legislature in March that last year’s amendments were problematic, but last month’s amendments repeated the same mistakes, Chung said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) accused Cho of requesting a reconsideration every time the legislature passes a bill he does not like.
He has filed the most reconsiderations of any premier — the eighth in just over a year — yet has failed each time, Lai said.
Treating reconsiderations as a mere game shows the arrogance of the Cabinet and its disregard for legislative power, he added.
This is the time to set things right and defend local government subsidies, which the Executive Yuan has unlawfully slashed by more than NT$200 billion (US$6.4 billion), Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張?楷) said, adding that the opposition parties aim to recover this funding.
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