KMT, TPP extend legislative session again to Aug. 31

Taipei, July 18 (CNA) The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) voted Friday to further extend the current legislative session to Aug. 31, lengthening the previously extended session by another month.

The two opposition parties, which together form a majority in the 113-seat Legislature, outvoted the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 59-49, citing the urgency of many proposed bills that they said should not be postponed to the next session.

Taiwan's Legislature meets in two regular sessions each year: one from February to the end of May, and the other from September to the end of December.

Friday's vote, proposed by the TPP in mid-June, followed an earlier extension proposed by the KMT in mid-April. The two parties also took the DPP to task for what they said was its deliberate boycott of both plenary and committee sessions.

KMT lawmaker Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) referenced the recently passed NT$545 billion (US$18.5 billion) special bill, which includes a NT$10,000 cash handout for each citizen, and urged the Cabinet to draw up a special budget and submit it to the Legislature for review.

TPP lawmaker Liu Shu-pin (劉書彬) said the United States is expected to announce tariffs on Taiwan soon, and the Legislature, she said, should remain in session to respond promptly to any resulting impact.

DPP caucus whip Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤), however, called the extension "groundless" and accused the opposition parties of using the prolonged session as their "legislative umbrella."

The phrase referred to the constitutional and legal protections that shield lawmakers from arrest or detention without the Legislature's consent while it is in session, unless they are caught in the act of committing a crime.