More than NT$299 billion (US$9.48 billion) in spending would be frozen if the legislature does not pass this year’s general budget, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿) said yesterday.
If legislative review of the budget remains stalled, NT$101.7 billion for new programs would be frozen, while NT$180.5 billion in ministry increases over last year’s budget would remain constrained, Chen told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.
An additional NT$17 billion for the first and second reserve funds, and disaster preparedness would also be unavailable, she said.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which together hold a majority in the legislature, have refused to review the budget, stating that the Executive Yuan did not properly adjust it for military and police pay.
The Finance Committee yesterday heard from the DGBAS, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Finance and the Ocean Affairs Council on the effects of the stalled budget.
Chen said that NT$2.7 billion for new defense programs would be blocked, including military medical projects such as combat casualty surgery and emergency equipment, hindering upgrades to life-saving materiel used in peacetime and wartime.
Another NT$72.5 billion for reserve force readiness, military exercises, force development and personnel training would also be affected, she said.
For the Ocean Affairs Council, NT$240 million for new programs would be frozen, including for renovations of aging coast guard facilities, upgrades to outdated 3G and 4G-M surveillance systems, and the reinforcement of deteriorating docks, potentially affecting operational capacity and anti-drug enforcement, she said.
“Failure to pass the general budget would undermine national defense and security, and hinder public infrastructure and social welfare projects,” Chen said.
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) were focusing on the wrong issues, blaming the budget deadlock on their failure to respect laws passed by the legislature.
“If Lai and Cho truly care about bolstering national defense and improving conditions for soldiers, police and firefighters, why have they rejected related efforts?” she said, accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of blocking pay and benefit increases.
Referencing the idiom “let whoever tied the bell to the tiger take it off” (解鈴還須繫鈴人), meaning that whoever made a mess should clean it up, Cheng said the root of the problem lies in Lai’s “inner demons.”
Despite lacking a majority in the legislature, he can still collaborate with lawmakers, instead of acting impulsively and making excuses, she said, urging Lai to “be a president for all the people, instead of treating the opposition as an imagined enemy.”
DPP spokesman Wu Cheng (吳崢) accused the KMT and the TPP of “political maneuvering” and focusing on unconstitutional bills.
Regarding military pay raises, Wu said Lai approved a raise for volunteer personnel in April last year.
Combined with raises under former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, the DPP has increased salaries for military personnel, civil servants and teachers four times over nine years, compared with only once under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Wu said.
“If Cheng truly cares about people’s livelihoods and the nation’s development, she should communicate with her party’s lawmakers, and urge them to prioritize the review of the central government’s budget, instead of just talking without action,” he said.
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