Diet takes up the supplemental budget | Japan Daily Briefing
Takaichi defends her budget, while the ruling parties are still looking for a way to pass their electoral reform bill
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In today’s Japan Daily Briefing, the Diet opened discussions of the government’s supplemental budget, which still needs some support from opposition lawmakers in the upper house. The LDP has made little headway convincing the opposition to clear the way for debate on the LDP-Ishin electoral reform bill. The Japanese government and politicians react to China’s claims that Japan was to blame for the encounter between Japanese and Chinese aircraft Saturday. Finally, the government is working to assess the impact of a large earthquake that struck northern Japan late Monday. (Stay safe out there, Japan-based readers!)
Diet begins deliberations on supplemental budget
The House of Representatives began its consideration of the Takaichi government’s JPY 18.3tn supplemental budget on Monday, 8 December, following an explanation of the budget by Finance Ministry Katayama Satsuki and questioning of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae by lower and upper house lawmakers during plenary sessions of both houses.
While the government will likely have little difficulty moving the budget through the House of Representatives, where it controls a one-seat majority, the outlook for the budget in the upper house is more uncertain, since the government will need an additional six votes. It is hoping to secure support from either the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) or Kōmeitō, though the latter is working with the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) to press for reductions in the size of the supplemental budget. It is unclear whether the DPFP, which favors some of the provisions in the budget, will be more amenable to lending its support.
