Opposition legislators today for the sixth time blocked a NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.8 billion) special defense budget bill from proceeding to the committee review stage.
During today’s plenary session, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucuses voted down the proposal with a 59-50 vote.
The Executive Yuan on Nov. 27 approved a special budget to bolster defense resilience and asymmetric capabilities by funding weapons procurement and joint development programs with the US from next year to 2033.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The KMT and the TPP have jointly blocked the bill from being scheduled on the plenary session’s agenda since Dec. 2 last year.
The Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee on Tuesday passed a proposal put forward by KMT and TPP lawmakers to send the draft legislative agenda to the floor.
As the plenary agenda remained undecided, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) and other lawmakers yesterday night queued outside the legislative chamber to formally submit their proposal to refer the special defense budget bill to committee review today.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) today began the meeting after the party caucuses failed to reach a consensus in cross party negotiations this morning.
The KMT caucus objected to the DPP’s motion, prompting Han to order a vote.
The opposition parties again, using their numerical advantage, successfully prevented the special defense act from being sent to committee for review.
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