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.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS