This Week’s “Nagata-cho” (25.Feb-4.Mar, 2014)

 On February 28, 95.88 trillion yen (general account, 3.5% increase
from this fiscal year) of the initial budget FY 2014 was approved in
the Diet’s Lower House by majority vote of the ruling parties and
sent to the Upper House on the same day. At the same time, four bills
related with taxation (revision to income tax act, local tax act,
local corporate tax, local subsidy act) were also approved in the
Lower House and sent to the Upper House.

*The state of deliberations in both Houses and committees are
 available from the following websites(Japanese only).
 House of Representatives Internet TV：http://www.shugiintv.go.jp/en/index.php
 Live broadcasts and video recordings of the deliberations in the
 House of Councillors ：http://www.webtv.sangiin.go.jp/

 Although seven opposition parties, led by Democratic Party of Japan,
had repelled on the voting schedule for inadequate time of discussions
on the budget bill, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Toshihiro
Nikai, Chairman of the Budget Committee in the Lower House,
unilaterally decided the voting schedule on the Feb 28 by authority.
Also, Ichiro Aizawa, Chairman of the Lower House Rules and
Administration Committee from LDP, decided to hold a meeting of the
Lower House plenary session on the same day.
 The opposition parties had struggled to submit a joint
counterproposal to the government’s budget, but they could not reach
a final agreement for discrepant ideas on the budget. For that reason,
Japan Restoration Party and Yuinotoh jointly proposed a
counterproposal decreasing new issuance of government bonds and Your
Party, People’s Life Party and Japan Communist Party submitted their
own counterproposals respectively. Although the counterproposals were
taken into discussion with the Cabinet’s budget bill, they were all
rejected in the Budget Committee. DPJ, boycotting the meeting of the
Budget Committee, took a confrontational tactic in the Lower House
plenary session by submitting a counterproposal, but it was rejected
by majority of the ruling coalition.

 Due to the passage of the budget bill in the Lower House on Feb 28,
it became certain that the budget will automatically be passed into
legislation after 30 days even if the Upper House rejects the budget
for the Constitutional provision 60-2. The Cabinet and ruling parties
seek passage of the budget by March 20 in eye of Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe’s attendance on the 3rd meeting of Nuclear Security Summit to be
held on March 24-25 in Hague, Netherland. On March 3, the lawmakers in
the Upper House entered discussions on the budget in the House’s
Budget Committee. Prime Minister Abe stressed importance of an early
passage of the bill and called for cooperation of the opposition
parties.

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