The leaders of the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan yesterday adopted a motion to begin the review of next year’s proposed central government budget, effectively ending a month-long stalemate over the issue.
With the agreement, the central government’s proposed budget for next fiscal year is to be sent to the legislative committees for deliberation.
The decision was signed by caucus representatives from the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party during interparty negotiations yesterday morning.
Photo: CNA
Afterward, the motion was adopted on the legislative floor without being put to a vote, ending the impasse that had persisted since lawmakers began the new session on Sept. 20.
The motion came a day after the Cabinet and the three party caucuses reached an agreement to earmark funding needed to provide increased compensation to indigenous peoples for a logging ban per amendments promulgated in June.
The Cabinet also agreed to raise funding next year to reimburse medical facilities in accordance with a legislative resolution adopted earlier this year and conceive an updated plan for acquiring public food stocks by the end of this year.
The Cabinet submitted the NT$3.33 trillion (US$103.7 billion) budget proposal to the legislature for review at the end of August.
According to the plan, social welfare would continue to account for the largest share of the government’s budget next year, followed by spending on education, technology and culture.
Economic development and defense spending would rank third and fourth respectively in terms of their shares of the proposed budget.
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