Cabinet 'likely' to ask for Legislature revote on revenue allocation bill

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) The Cabinet is likely to ask the Legislature to reconsider amendments reallocating an estimated NT$375.3 billion (US$11.5 billion) from central government revenues to local governments, a spokesperson for the executive branch said Thursday.

At a news briefing, spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the revisions to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures passed by opposition lawmakers on Dec. 20 would have a "significant impact" on the central government.

Because of this, there is a "high chance" the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led Cabinet will ask the Legislature to hold a revote on the measures, Lee said.

Under current laws, the Cabinet -- pending approval from the president -- can delay the implementation of bills passed by the Legislature by asking lawmakers to hold a revote.

If a bill passes the revote, the president is required to sign it into law within 10 days.

Over the past few days, the heads of different central government ministries have expressed concern that the amendments, passed by lawmakers from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP), would affect plans related to national defense, social welfare and other areas.

However, when asked to quantify their exact impact on the central government's budget plan for the fiscal year 2025, which is still being reviewed in the Legislature, neither Lee nor Hsu Yung-yi (許永議), a senior official at the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics under the Executive Yuan, were able to provide a clear answer.

Hsu said it would be unable to do so until the Legislature approves the budget plan.

At the briefing, Lee said the Cabinet would also discuss the feasibility of seeking the same recourse with the new measures requiring a minimum of 10 justices to hear a case on the Constitutional Court, which would effectively immobilize the current eight-member court.

Earlier this year, the Cabinet took the same action after the KMT and TPP lawmakers, who together hold a majority of seats in the Legislature, passed a package of revisions granting the Legislature broader investigative powers, but to no avail.

Most of those revisions were ultimately struck down by the Constitutional Court.