DPFP Opposes Fri. Lower House Vote on Budget Bill

Tokyo, March 10 (Jiji Press)–The Democratic Party for the People expressed its opposition on Tuesday to the ruling bloc’s plan to hold a vote on the government’s fiscal 2026 budget bill at a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, on Friday, citing insufficient deliberation time. The budget bill is being deliberated “at such a high speed that we cannot cooperate,” DPFP Secretary-General Kazuya Shinba said at a meeting with his counterpart from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shunichi Suzuki. Shinba made the remark in response to Suzuki’s request for cooperation in passing the budget bill as soon as possible in light of the situation involving Iran and the state of the economy. Shinba argued that enacting the budget bill before fiscal 2025 ends on March 31 is “difficult no matter how hard we try.” He noted that the ruling bloc lacks a majority in the House of Councillors, the upper parliamentary chamber, and that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit the United States next week. He demanded that the Lower House deliberate the budget bill until at least Monday next week, and that a stopgap budget be compiled by the end of this month to take new measures against rising prices. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]