Japan Govt, Ruling Bloc Adamant in Passing Budget before FY ’26

Tokyo, Feb. 28 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government and ruling parties remain adamant in passing the draft fiscal 2026 budget by the end of the current year through March, as deliberations continue in the House of Representatives Budget Committee. The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc is seeking to pave the way for a swift passage of the budget, while opposition parties including the Centrist Reform Alliance want to block this, calling for sufficient deliberations. Opposition lawmakers are requesting the compilation of a stopgap budget in preparation for the possibility that the passage of the regular budget may be delayed into April or even later. “If we consider people’s livelihoods and the dignity of parliament, the only solution is a provisional budget,” Centrist Reform Alliance leader Junya Ogawa told reporters Friday. He called on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who told parliament that she had not instructed her government to draw up a provisional budget, to change course and allow careful deliberations. The Budget Committee of the lower chamber of the Diet will hold its ongoing basic questioning session until Tuesday. The ruling bloc, also including the Japan Innovation Party, is aiming to pass the draft budget through the Lower House on March 13, taking into account the schedule of deliberations in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber. Lower House deliberations on budgets typically take between 70 and 80 hours. In order to pass the fiscal 2026 draft budget on March 13, the deliberation time needs to be reduced to less than 60 hours. “If we allow this, things will get out of hand from next year,” a senior Centrist Reform Alliance member said. The ruling parties proposed at a Lower House Budget Committee board meeting Friday to hold for three days from Wednesday ministry-by-ministry budget reviews, a practice introduced during deliberations for the fiscal 2025 budget at the request of opposition parties. The ruling bloc hopes the practice would meet opposition demand for thorough deliberations while increasing total deliberation time. “Opposition parties said last year that (such reviews) were groundbreaking,” LDP member Ken Saito, the leading committee board member, told reporters. “There is no way (reviews) won’t be held.” Ruling lawmakers are expected to take steps to pass the fiscal 2026 budget by the end of March. At a board meeting of the Lower House steering committee Friday, the ruling side proposed that the chamber begin deliberations on bills for tax system reforms and a local tax law revision at a plenary meeting Thursday. An LDP source explained that the bloc wants to start deliberations on the bills at once to secure enough time for Budget Committee meetings in the week from March 9. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, has expressed understanding for the early passage of the fiscal 2026 budget. A Centrist Reform Alliance member admitted that the opposition party “has no strong leverage” as the ruling parties won a massive majority in the Feb. 8 Lower House election. “If (opposition parties) try to block the budget from being passed by the end of this fiscal year, we’ll say they are taking people’s lives hostage,” an LDP member said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]