Opposition lawmakers again blocked the Executive Yuan’s special defense budget and fiscal planning bills from moving forward in the legislative process today, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accusing them of obstructing the government and weakening national security.
The Executive Yuan advanced a NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special defense budget plan on Nov. 27, but Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee on Tuesday last week blocked the plan, preventing it from being sent to committees for review.
When the Procedure Committee convened today, TPP Legislator Liu Shu-pin (劉書彬) proposed submitting a draft of the current agenda to the Legislative Yuan.
Photo: Lee Wen-hsin, Taipei Times
The DPP caucus suggested first including the Executive Yuan’s special defense budget and fiscal planning bills on the Legislative Yuan’s agenda on Friday.
Reports and question-and-answer sessions for these bills should be added to the agenda, DPP Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said.
All of the Procedure Committee’s other DPP members stood behind Fan, holding signs protesting the opposition blocking the bills.
The opposition is blocking the fiscal planning bill simply to “grab funds” and weaken national governance, Fan said, emphasizing that the bill had been discussed with local governments.
She asked why the bill should not even be seriously discussed by committees, effectively denying it even a first reading.
The opposition says that the NT$1.25 trillion budget is too large, but it would be split over eight years, amounting to about NT$150 billion per year, Fan said.
If the KMT and TPP have genuine concerns, they should discuss them openly in a committee review of the bill, she said.
The opposition parties are obstructing and dragging down the government and weakening national security, other DPP lawmakers said.
In the vote, nine committee members supported Liu’s proposal to submit the agenda as is, while nine opposed it.
Procedure Committee convener and KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) broke the tie, supporting Liu’s proposal and sending the agenda to the Legislative Yuan.
President William Lai (賴清德) does not even have the courage to report or answer questions in the Legislative Yuan, KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
The DPP is blocking the defense budget and Lai should report to the legislature, Lo said.
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