Ruling party okay's 2010 spending plan in budget committee

By Tony Chang

SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) on Thursday approved the government's budget bill for 2010 at a committee meeting amid a prolonged wrangle with opposition lawmakers over the proposed spending plan.

In a blitzkrieg move, the GNP convened the parliament's special committee on the
budget and accounts early in the morning on Thursday, a day before New Year's
day, and green-lit the government's 293-trillion-won (US$251.9 billion) spending
plan.
The bill has faced stiff opposition from the main opposition Democratic Party and
smaller rivals over a spending plan to refurbish the nation's four largest
rivers.
The GNP moved the bill forward amid continued sit-in protest staged by opposition
lawmakers at the committee chamber. The ruling party members unilaterally
endorsed the plan in a different room inside the parliament building.
The National Assembly is scheduled to convene a plenary session later in the day,
in which the GNP is expected to move to unilaterally pass the budget bill in a
plenary vote.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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