Extra session might have to be extended beyond Nov. 30: Diet chief+

TOKYO, Nov. 6 Kyodo -
The Diet affairs chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan said Friday that
the ongoing Diet session through Nov. 30 may have to be extended, citing a
tight schedule for deliberations on government-proposed bills.

''Under the current circumstances, we have no choice but to extend,'' Kenji
Yamaoka, chairman of the DPJ's Diet Affairs Committee, told reporters.
He noted that the appointment of a commissioner for the National Personnel
Authority, which requires Diet approval, has been delayed due to resistance
from the opposition camp and that more time will also be needed for
deliberations on government-proposed bills.
''We don't want to force them through,'' he said.
But Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters he wants to get through the
bills and treaties currently in the Diet by the end of the ongoing session as
initially planned.
Hatoyama, who is also DPJ president, said Yamaoka's suggesting a possible Diet
extension just on the first day of the upper house deliberations was rather
''unexpected.''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano also denied at a press conference that
Yamaoka's comments reflect a government decision.
The possible extension of the Diet session could derail the government's
planned compilation of a main budget for fiscal 2010 starting next April, which
it is aiming to complete by the end of this year.
Yamaoka also hinted that a bill to allow foreign residents with permanent
residency to vote in local elections will be drafted by some ruling lawmakers
and submitted in the current session.
The DPJ-led coalition government has decided to appoint Takeshi Erikawa, former
vice minister for health, labor and welfare, as a commissioner for the
personnel authority, an organization that sets working conditions for national
servants and controls other personnel affairs related to them.
But the Liberal Democratic Party-led opposition camp has opposed the
appointment, arguing it contradicts the DPJ's policy of eliminating so-called
''amakudari,'' a practice in which retired bureaucrats land well-paid jobs at
corporations in sectors that they formerly oversaw.
At the House of Councillors Budget Committee session Friday, Hatoyama sought
understanding over the appointment, saying a former bureaucrat would be a vital
asset for the government's plan to drastically improve the management of the
authority as part of its administrative reform drive.
During the deliberations, he also vowed to enact a law to expand the scope of
government relief for people suffering from radiation-related illnesses linked
to the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The prime minister pledged to ensure passage of a bill clarifying the state's
responsibility for the outbreak and spread of hepatitis B and C, which largely
stemmed from tainted blood products, and will offer relief to hepatitis
patients.
The DPJ is seeking to get the hepatitis bill cleared during the current session.
The government has submitted a total of 12 bills and treaties to the ongoing
session, including one to allow for inspections of North Korean cargo and
another to freeze the planned sale of shares in Japan Post Holdings Co. and its
financial units.
==Kyodo
2009-11-06 22:51:10