Passage of 2nd extra budget delayed until Tuesday+

TOKYO, Jan. 26 Kyodo - The Diet passage of a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 to reinvigorate the economy that features a controversial 2 trillion yen cash handout plan has been delayed until Tuesday, as a tug-of-war between the ruling and opposition parties continued late Monday.

The House of Councillors passed on Monday an opposition-proposed bill to revise
the budget to remove the cash handout plan, but the 4.79 trillion yen budget
will eventually be enacted without the deletion as the decision of the more
powerful House of Representatives will prevail in line with constitutional
provisions.
With the two houses coming to different decisions, a joint committee of the
upper and lower chambers was formed with 10 lawmakers from the ruling parties
representing the lower house in support of the extra budget and 10 lawmakers
from the opposition parties representing the upper house seeking to endorse the
amendment bill.
The committee held a meeting following prolonged preliminary discussions, but
it failed to reach a conclusion and decided to meet again on Tuesday.
As it is highly unlikely to reach a compromise, the government-proposed extra
budget is expected to be enacted based on Article 60 of the Constitution.
The article stipulates that if representatives of both houses fail to agree on
the passage of a budget in a joint committee, the decision of the more powerful
lower house takes precedence.
When the extra budget is enacted by the Diet, the focus of parliamentary debate
will shift to the fiscal 2009 budget.
Meanwhile, deliberations on bills related to the extra budget to cover such
matters as financial resources for the cash handout plan will continue in the
upper house.
The cash handout plan is unlikely to be implemented unless the related bills
clear the Diet.
Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters Monday evening that he hopes the related
bills will gain parliamentary approval as soon as possible.
On Jan. 13, the lower house passed the extra budget and related bills with
majority support from the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and
the New Komeito party.
Following the final debate at the upper house Budget Committee on Monday, the
opposition parties passed the bill proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan,
the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party to amend the extra
budget by removing the 2 trillion yen allotted for the cash handout plan.
The opposition parties oppose the cash handout plan, saying it is unpopular
with the public and that the money should be used for other measures such as
pensions and medical care instead.
At the budget committee, Aso reiterated his intention not to remove the cash
handout plan, saying, ''It is an extremely important measure which will provide
emergency support to households and have a (positive) economic effect by
boosting spending.''
It is the first time in postwar history that an amendment for a budget has been
approved by the upper house.
The amendment was rejected by the ruling parties at the lower house plenary
session later in the day.
The second extra budget includes support measures for households, small
businesses and regional economies that have been hard hit by the economic
slowdown. It features a 2.04 trillion yen cash handout plan, under which a
minimum of 12,000 yen per person will be disbursed.
==Kyodo
2009-01-26 23:39:14