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163488
Wed, 02/23/2011 - 17:58
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https://www.oananews.org//node/163488
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Japan PM Kan says FY 2011 budget vital for Japan's economic recovery
TOKYO - (Kyodo) - Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned Wednesday against delaying parliamentary passage of the fiscal 2011 budget and related bills, saying Japan must avoid ''pouring cold water on the economy,'' when he squared off with opposition party leaders.
''Putting the budget into effect is most important for the public,'' given that the country is seeing a long-awaited economic recovery, Kan told Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki during their second one-to-one party leaders' debate in the Diet this month.
Kan, facing mounting pressure to quit after around eight months in office, said he has not thought of dissolving the House of Representatives for a general election in exchange for securing the passage of the bills critical to the budget for the year starting April.
''I wonder whether you really believe that dissolution (of the lower house) without passing the budget and doing anything will benefit the public,'' Kan said during the debate which lasted around 30 minutes. ''I hope you will act in a way that is responsible to the people and history.''
But Tanigaki said the budget plan crafted by the DPJ-led government is ''irreconcilable with our ideals'' as the LDP believes it would not help the country's flagging economy, and allowing the budget and related bills to pass, even if revised slightly, would represent ''a hundred evils and not a single good.''
''The shortcut is, I believe, that we need to reset (the current political situation) by asking the people,'' Tanigaki said of the need for a general election.
The parliamentary debate was held at a delicate time for Kan, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, who has been struggling to deal with internal strife in the DPJ and increasing hostility from opposition parties, which control the upper house of parliament.
Kan is at risk of failing to have the budget-related bills, including one to enable the government to issue deficit-covering bonds, passed in the Diet by the start of the next fiscal year, as the ruling coalition lacks the two-thirds majority in the lower house required to override a veto of the House of Councillors.
Under such circumstances, DPJ Diet affairs chief Jun Azumi told reporters Wednesday that it is possible that a vote on the bond issuance bill in the House of Representatives, before sending it to the upper house, may not take place at the same time as the vote for the budget, which can be approved only by a majority in the lower house.
Kan has staked his premiership on fiscal reconstruction and has shown his readiness to explore the possibility of raising the politically sensitive consumption tax in the near future to help fund bloating social security costs.
Already Japan's fifth leader since 2006, Kan has called on opposition parties to join the government's ongoing talks on tax and social security reforms. But so far his efforts have not paid off and there are no signs yet of any change in the stance of opposition parties.
Tanigaki told Kan that the LDP may be able to engage in cross-party talks on the reforms after the next general election.
The LDP and other opposition parties have said they will not get under starter's orders for any debate on fiscal reforms with Kan, unless the DPJ decides to scrap some of its major policies under the 2009 election pledges that they criticize as wasteful, ranging from monthly child allowances to toll-free expressways.
Tanigaki said the policies, without sufficient financial resources, are ''a house of cards.''
Kan said the DPJ is planning to reexamine its pledges this summer and some of them may be revised if necessary.
On the diplomatic front, Kan was grilled by Tanigaki and New Komeito party chief Natsuo Yamaguchi over Japan's ties with the United States, saying they have deteriorated since the DPJ's rise to power in September 2009.
Kan rejected their claims, saying relations between Tokyo and Washington are now ''very stable,'' although things did not go well last year in some respects during negotiations on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
Kan also said that Japan's long-standing territorial dispute with Russia over four islands off Hokkaido seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II must be addressed ''patiently and not hurriedly.''
''Putting the budget into effect is most important for the public,'' given that the country is seeing a long-awaited economic recovery, Kan told Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki during their second one-to-one party leaders' debate in the Diet this month.
Kan, facing mounting pressure to quit after around eight months in office, said he has not thought of dissolving the House of Representatives for a general election in exchange for securing the passage of the bills critical to the budget for the year starting April.
''I wonder whether you really believe that dissolution (of the lower house) without passing the budget and doing anything will benefit the public,'' Kan said during the debate which lasted around 30 minutes. ''I hope you will act in a way that is responsible to the people and history.''
But Tanigaki said the budget plan crafted by the DPJ-led government is ''irreconcilable with our ideals'' as the LDP believes it would not help the country's flagging economy, and allowing the budget and related bills to pass, even if revised slightly, would represent ''a hundred evils and not a single good.''
''The shortcut is, I believe, that we need to reset (the current political situation) by asking the people,'' Tanigaki said of the need for a general election.
The parliamentary debate was held at a delicate time for Kan, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, who has been struggling to deal with internal strife in the DPJ and increasing hostility from opposition parties, which control the upper house of parliament.
Kan is at risk of failing to have the budget-related bills, including one to enable the government to issue deficit-covering bonds, passed in the Diet by the start of the next fiscal year, as the ruling coalition lacks the two-thirds majority in the lower house required to override a veto of the House of Councillors.
Under such circumstances, DPJ Diet affairs chief Jun Azumi told reporters Wednesday that it is possible that a vote on the bond issuance bill in the House of Representatives, before sending it to the upper house, may not take place at the same time as the vote for the budget, which can be approved only by a majority in the lower house.
Kan has staked his premiership on fiscal reconstruction and has shown his readiness to explore the possibility of raising the politically sensitive consumption tax in the near future to help fund bloating social security costs.
Already Japan's fifth leader since 2006, Kan has called on opposition parties to join the government's ongoing talks on tax and social security reforms. But so far his efforts have not paid off and there are no signs yet of any change in the stance of opposition parties.
Tanigaki told Kan that the LDP may be able to engage in cross-party talks on the reforms after the next general election.
The LDP and other opposition parties have said they will not get under starter's orders for any debate on fiscal reforms with Kan, unless the DPJ decides to scrap some of its major policies under the 2009 election pledges that they criticize as wasteful, ranging from monthly child allowances to toll-free expressways.
Tanigaki said the policies, without sufficient financial resources, are ''a house of cards.''
Kan said the DPJ is planning to reexamine its pledges this summer and some of them may be revised if necessary.
On the diplomatic front, Kan was grilled by Tanigaki and New Komeito party chief Natsuo Yamaguchi over Japan's ties with the United States, saying they have deteriorated since the DPJ's rise to power in September 2009.
Kan rejected their claims, saying relations between Tokyo and Washington are now ''very stable,'' although things did not go well last year in some respects during negotiations on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
Kan also said that Japan's long-standing territorial dispute with Russia over four islands off Hokkaido seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II must be addressed ''patiently and not hurriedly.''
