2025 government budget bill stalled amid opposition revision demand

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) The legislative review of the 2025 central government budget remained stalled after opposition lawmakers in the Procedure Committee voted to pause any review at the Legislature on Tuesday, demanding the Cabinet instead revise its spending plan.

The vote on the motion proposed by the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) not to move the budget bill forward took place when the Procedure Committee convened at noon on Tuesday.

Nine of the 17 lawmakers in attendance supported the motion, stopping the review of the budget bill from beginning.

Legislator Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who chaired Tuesday's committee meeting, called the vote "unprecedented," noting that the main task of the new legislative session is to review and pass the budget bill.

KMT lawmaker Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) argued that both President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) had employed the same procedural tactic in the DPP's failed move to hold up the budget bill when they were lawmakers in 2008.

Regardless of whether there was a precedent or not, Tuesday's motion was aimed at having the Cabinet revise its spending plan since several resolutions passed by the Legislature this year that expanded government subsidization programs were not written into the 2025 budget, Chen said.

On Friday, KMT and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) lawmakers sent the budget bill back to the Procedure Committee during the Legislature's full session, stopping the bill from passing its first reading, on the grounds that it did not cover funds required in an amended law or resolutions passed by lawmakers.

Both parties demanded the Cabinet submit a revised budget bill that addresses the expected rise in compensation due to the amended Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act, and legislative resolutions, such as hiking the price for government acquisition of public food stocks.

During a press briefing Tuesday, TPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) explained that the opposition demanded a revised budget bill because the Constitution forbids lawmakers from increasing the amount of government spending during their review, and lawmakers cannot allocate funds for purposes not listed in the budget bill.

The proposed central government budget for fiscal year 2025 covers record-high spending of NT$3.33 trillion (US$104.15 billion) and estimated total tax revenue and other proceeds of NT$3.15 trillion.

The difference between the proposed total spending and expected revenue, which is about NT$178.9 billion, will be made up through borrowing, according to the Cabinet.

The 2025 budget bill, under the current law, shall be approved by the Legislature one month before the new fiscal year begins on New Year's Day.

However, the review process has often concluded in the new year, as in the case of the 2022 and 2023 budgets which were passed in January.

The 2024 central government budget was approved by lawmakers on Dec. 19, 2023, amid then-approaching presidential and legislative elections scheduled on Jan. 13, 2024. The DDP won the presidential race, but lost its majority in the 113-seat Legislature, picking up only 51 seats.

Earlier Tuesday, Cho told reporters before heading to a plenary meeting at the Legislature that he would ask the DDP's legislative caucus to engage in negotiations with opposition parties, so the review of the budget bill can start.