The Legislative Yuan today voted to extend the current legislative session through Aug. 31, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) using their majority to pass the proposal over Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opposition.
The Legislative Yuan holds two regular sessions each year running from February through May and from September through December.
In a proposal submitted on April 10, the TPP caucus said that President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) had failed to promptly submit nominee lists for vacancies on the Constitutional Court and the National Communications Commission (NCC).
Photo: CNA
The caucus also said that the Taiwan-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade and a memorandum of understanding on Taiwan-US investment had yet to be sent to the legislature for review.
To give lawmakers sufficient time to deliberate these items, the TPP proposed extending the current session through July 31.
During cross-party negotiations on April 20, the KMT and TPP supported the proposal over the DPP’s opposition, and an amended version of the motion was later placed on today’s agenda for a vote.
While the current session is scheduled to end on May 31, the annual budget has not yet been fully reviewed “due to the DPP government’s abuse of power and failure to properly prepare it,” the TPP caucus said today.
The budget is the foundation of government policy, and its review is a key responsibility of the legislature that should not be rushed due to the ruling party’s negligence or time limits, the party caucus said.
The Executive Yuan has repeatedly failed to fulfill its legal duties and has still not submitted nominations for key vacancies in the NCC and Constitutional Court for legislative confirmation, it said.
The legislature must continue to exercise strong oversight and press the Executive Yuan to submit nominations as soon as possible, rather than allowing continued dysfunction, it added.
Based on the legislature’s constitutional duty of oversight and its role as the highest representative body of the people, it should strictly safeguard how taxpayer money is used, the TPP said, proposing to extend the session further through Aug. 31.
The motion passed with 53 votes in favor and 39 against.
A DPP motion to reconsider the extension was blocked by the KMT.
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