Japan Ruling Bloc Drops Plan to Hold Diet Budget Debate Sat.

Tokyo, March 5 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling bloc on Thursday withdrew a proposal to hold a general question-and-answer session on the government’s draft fiscal 2026 budget at the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Saturday. The move came as opposition parties are criticizing the schedule, claiming it is based on the assumption that the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, would pass the budget bill March 13. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, still aim for the Lower House passage of the bill that day. The ruling side is trying to speed up Diet deliberations on the budget for the year from April 1 as the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is determined to secure its enactment by the March 31 end of the current fiscal year. On Thursday, the Lower House Budget Committee board of directors decided to hold intensive discussions on major challenges facing the country at the committee on Monday afternoon, with participation by Takaichi, after holding a general question-and-answer session in the morning. The Budget Committee, with a majority vote from the ruling parties, has already decided to hold local hearings on the draft budget Sunday. The ruling bloc plans to create an environment for a vote for the budget bill by sparing time for deliberations. “Opposition parties are united in opposing holding (deliberations) on Saturday, so it is not good to push it through,” the LDP’s Ken Saito, the ruling bloc’s chief director of the Budget Committee board, told reporters. Meanwhile, the board of the Lower House’s steering committee approved Thursday a schedule for Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ryosei Akazawa to visit the United States from Thursday night to Sunday. Kazuhiko Shigetoku, Diet affairs chief of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, had said, “At a time when there are concerns about the economic impact of the Iranian situation (following the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran), we cannot hold full-fledged discussions Saturday without the minister (in charge of the economy and trade).” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]