離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Legislative Yuan wrangling continues
Democratic Progressive Party caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu, right, and caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
By Hsieh Chun-ling and Jason Pan / Staff reporters
The opposition parties’ blocking of the central government’s budget for fiscal year 2025 would harm all citizens and bring ruin to the nation, the Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） caucus said yesterday, adding that it supports the Executive Yuan to petition the Constitutional Court for a ruling.
During the first day of the new legislative session on Friday, independent Legislator May Chin （高金素梅） proposed sending the central government’s proposed budget back to the Procedure Committee.
The Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） and the Taiwan People’s Party （TPP）, which have a combined majority in the 113-seat legislature, backed Chin’s proposal, and 59 of the 105 lawmakers present voted in favor of the motion.
The proposed central government budget for next year covers record-high spending of NT$3.33 trillion （US$104 billion） and estimated total tax revenue and other proceeds of NT$3.15 trillion.
The difference between the proposed total spending and expected revenue is about NT$178.9 billion and would be made covered by borrowing, the Executive Yuan said.
“The opposition parties are impeding the needed spending for our nation’s development, and for government ministries to look after the needs of our citizens. They are engaging in partisan politics which harms our citizens and brings ruin to Taiwan,” DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu （吳思瑤） said.
The DPP caucus said it has requested Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu （韓國瑜） to convene cross-caucus negotiations to mediate through the impasse, but it also supports the right of the Executive Yuan to petition the Constitutional Court for a ruling because it believes the legislature’s opposition contravenes the Fiscal Discipline Act （財政紀律法）.
“Opposition legislators blocked the budget due to disagreement over certain items, which should be taken up and discussed by the legislative committees, but they rejected the whole package, which means legislators have no way to scrutinize and deliberate on any of the budget items,” DPP caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han （洪申翰） said.
“The plan for the fiscal budget 2025 has been stalled, including government spending on national defense, social welfare programs, health and home care for elderly people, promoting economic growth, and upgrading transportation,” he said.
“The KMT and the TPP have adopted unreasonable means to impede progress and obstruct good governance,” he added.
The KMT caucus said it because it failed to address the real needs of farmers, indigenous people and other social groups, and so the Cabinet must redraft and resubmit the government expenditure budget items for next year.
TPP Legislator Chang Chi-kai （張啟楷） said he and fellow TPP members supported returning the budget because the DPP has “denigrated the legislature” by trying to ram through the package through without consultation and input from sectors in society.
Chang demanded that Cabinet patch up the deficiencies and improve the proposed budget bills for them to be re-examined and sent to the Procedure Committee.
Additional reporting by CNA
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
