Ruling bloc pushes FY 2009 extra budget through lower house

TOKYO, May 13 Kyodo -
The ruling parties pushed an extra budget for fiscal 2009 and a related bill to
finance Prime Minister Taro Aso's fresh economic package through the House of
Representatives on Wednesday despite complaints from the opposition camp that
deliberations were insufficient.
The extra budget, worth a record 13.93 trillion yen, and one of six related
bills, which is to allow for a gift tax cut, won lower house approval with a
majority vote by the ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New
Komeito party.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan and two smaller opposition
parties abstained from voting, arguing that there had been insufficient
deliberations, while the Japanese Communist Party voted against.
Aso told reporters in the evening, ''I truly hope to see (the extra budget)
adopted by the Diet at an earliest possible date.''
He has underlined that his economic stimulus steps to be financed by the extra
budget will help boost Japan's gross domestic product by about 2 percentage
points in fiscal 2009.
If the Diet session is extended beyond June 3, the extra budget for the current
fiscal year from April 1 will automatically pass the Diet on June 12, 30 days
after being sent to the House of Councillors, even if the upper house, which is
controlled by the opposition parties, refuses to vote on it, as the lower
house's decision prevails under the Constitution for the passage of a budget.
But the ruling coalition will need to hold a revote in the lower chamber to
pass the related bills if the upper house rejects them or does not hold a vote
within 60 days of receiving them.
The ruling parties are planning to get the remaining five bills that are needed
to implement the extra budget passed at an early stage.
Speculation has been simmering that Aso could dissolve the lower house for a
snap election before seeing all of the six related bills passed by the Diet.
Shrugging off such a view, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said at a
press conference, ''The government has repeatedly said that boosting the
sluggish economy should come first before dealing with political issues.''
LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda also said, ''We should seek a public
mandate only after completing whatever we can do (to bail Japan out of an
economic slump),'' indicating that the general election should not be held
until the related bills are passed.
Hosoda made the remarks in a speech at the Kyodo News headquarters on Wednesday
afternoon.
Under the extra budget, the government plans to allocate 2.58 trillion yen for
boosting public works projects and 1.58 trillion yen for measures to create a
low-carbon, environmentally friendly society.
The LDP and DPJ called off what would have been the first one-on-one debate
between Aso and DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa as party leaders during the ongoing
Diet session from Jan. 5, which had been slated for Wednesday, in the wake of
Ozawa's announcement Monday that he plans to step down.
==Kyodo