Continued disagreement over funding allocation bill leads to impasse

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) Lawmakers noisily disagreed over procedural issues in the Legislature on Monday in relation to an act regulating the allocation of funding between central and local governments, leading to deadlock at the Finance Committee.

Opposition lawmakers shouted and held up placards with the slogan "fat central government, poor local governments" while legislators from the ruling party shouted back and held up signs suggesting there were "major flaws" in legislative procedure over the committee's earlier handling of the funding bill.

The conflict on Monday in the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's highest democratic assembly, stemmed from the fact that the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which together with the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPT) has a majority in the Legislature, is seeking to pass 22 amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures opposed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The proposed amendments are aimed at raising the proportion of government revenues that go to local governments at the expense of the central government. Under the current legislation, the central government is allocated 75 percent while local governments are given 25 percent of available funding.

The amendments, if passed into law, would also prevent the central government from reducing the amount of subsidies -- not included in the 75-25 ratio split currently regulated by the act -- that it currently grants to local authorities.

On Nov. 6, KMT lawmaker Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍), then chairperson of the Legislature's Finance Committee, declared that the proposed amendments had cleared the committee review stage and adjourned the meeting just three minutes after it started.

However, at the Finance Committee meeting held on Monday under the new chairmanship of DPP lawmaker Lai Hui-yuan (賴惠員), the opposing camps locked horns over how the draft amendments were handled last week.

"Last week's bill review procedure seriously violated official regulations," DPP lawmaker Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) told the meeting, referring to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power and the Rules of Legislative Procedure.

"So we believe the completion [of the draft amendments through the committee stage] should be considered to be invalid."

Wu argued that the meeting's minutes were "not recorded according to the regulations," suggesting that the minutes not be confirmed.

"The DPP also made adjustments to the KMT's version of the draft amendments," said KMT lawmaker Chen, who last week as committee chairperson had declared the proposed amendments completed after just three minutes.

"It was already discussed. If you don't know that then don't talk nonsense," she added.

DPP caucus whip Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) said that the disagreement over whether the draft amendments had cleared committee review stage according to regulations was a "major controversy" and called for Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to address the issue through cross-party negotiations.

KMT lawmakers called for the issue to be put to a vote, while the DPP requested that officials from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) submit an oral report as scheduled.

As the stand-off continued, some lawmakers pushed and shoved each other in an attempt to seize control of microphones to shout down opposing members of the meeting.

Lai, the DPP lawmaker who was supposed to preside over the committee meeting, eventually walked off and did not return, causing the remaining lawmakers to disperse at around 5.30 p.m.

Without a consensus at the committee concerning the legitimacy of the last meeting's outcome, the partisan impasse is set to continue over the coming days.