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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS