A cross-caucus negotiation yesterday ended in stalemate after lawmakers failed to agree on how to deal with 10,421 motions filed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to freeze and slash budgets for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
“The infrastructure program is a special budgetary item. Every cent of its budget comes from government debt,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said. “The KMT caucus tabled this many motions in the hopes that the money will be well spent.”
The KMT caucus wants to cut NT$33 billion (US$1.09 billion) for controversial items, such as rail construction projects, and projects that are at odds with the purpose of the program, he said.
The caucus is against the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) plan to bundle the budget motions to put them to vote, he said.
The DPP caucus, in a bid to save time, has tabled 100 motions regarding the program, half of which directly address the agencies that will undertake the projects in the program, which could cause the more specific language that opposition parties have submitted in their motions to be overlooked, he said.
“If this can be allowed, committee reviews can also be skipped when reviewing future general budgets,” he said.
“We will just categorize the motions by their governing agencies and put them to a vote during a plenary session. We might as well close the legislature down,” he said.
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) voiced concerns about the KMT caucus’ motions, saying there would not be enough time to discuss all of them.
Since the KMT caucus was still submitting motions yesterday morning, the Legislative Yuan’s printing factory was not able to compile them all and print them in time for yesterday’s meeting, Su said.
The usual practice for reviewing general and special budgets is for lawmakers to just review the “sections” in motions, without addressing smaller units such as subsections and items, he said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) agreed.
However, KMT lawmakers refused to budge, with Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) saying that it is within lawmakers’ purview to address items listed under motions when reviewing budgets, if necessary.
“We have made our decision. All 10,421 motions must be printed out without a word missing. Every motion must discussed with every word read,” Lin said.
Su later ordered that 25 books containing all the motions filed by the KMT, along with those filed by the People First Party and the New Power Party, to be printed before this morning’s negotiation session, while Ker and Lin continued to bicker over how to deal with the motions.
“The legislature’s operations should not become a joke to the public. I do not believe this is what KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) wants,” Ker told reporters after the meeting.
The KMT should engage in rational discussions rather than “pulling a prank” to paralyze the legislative procedure, he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS