Opposition parties yesterday again blocked a special budget aimed at bolstering the nation’s overall defense posture and the general budget for this year because of what they said was the government’s failure to prepare a budget in accordance with the law.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus had placed a motion on the agenda for yesterday’s legislative session that would have sent the budget proposals to committee for review, but it was voted down 59-50 by lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
The vote came after Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) warned that failure to pass the NT$3.03 trillion (US$95.9 billion) general budget could keep the central government from accessing NT$299.2 billion in funds, including for defense and local government allocations.
Photo: CNA
Those funds would be earmarked for new initiatives (NT$101.7 billion), expenses and continuing programs (NT$180.5 billion), the First and Second Reserve Funds, and the Disaster Reserve Fund (NT$17 billion).
The government would still be able to draw on other funds for such payments as civil servant salaries and statutory social welfare payments under a “provisional budget” mechanism based on the previous year’s approved budget.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said after the vote that his caucus hopes President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration would first compile the budget in accordance with the law.
Lo urged the Lai administration to fully allocate funds for military pay raises as well as for pension increases for retired police officers and firefighters, in line with bills passed by the opposition parties last year.
The Cabinet has declined to earmark funds for the raises and has sought constitutional interpretations of the bills, which are still pending.
Lawmakers from the two opposition parties also blocked a proposed NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget unveiled by Lai on Nov. 26 last year. It was the sixth time opposition lawmakers had voted against the special budget.
The opposition has demanded that Lai brief the legislature on the special budget and respond to lawmakers’ questions before any review of the spending plan begins.
The TPP also criticized the proposal, saying that amid delays in the delivery of US-ordered weapons, it is unreasonable to expect opposition backing for what it described as an “opaque” defense spending plan that does not clearly specify funded items.
The Executive Yuan yesterday criticized the latest blocking as “a waste of precious time” for national defense and an unnecessary drain on the public’s time, saying it hinders the government’s ability to care for the public, develop local infrastructure and advance artificial intelligence technology.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) called on all affected local governments nationwide to urge their district legislators to set aside unnecessary political calculations, and conduct substantive reviews of the general budget and the special national defense budget so that local development could be more balanced, national defense capabilities further strengthened and overall national progress advanced.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
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