LDP Proposes Tues. Committee Vote on FY 2026 Govt Budget

Tokyo, April 6 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday proposed that the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, hold a vote on the government’s fiscal 2026 budget bill on Tuesday. The proposal was made at the day’s meeting between Yoshihiko Isozaki, the LDP’s Diet affairs chief in the Upper House, and his counterpart from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Yoshitaka Saito. The CDP side, however, expressed reluctance to agree to such a plan, citing insufficient Diet deliberations. The opposition camp has requested that four intensive deliberation sessions be held on the budget bill as a condition to hold an Upper House vote. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, last month. Isozaki proposed that the third such session be held before the bill is put to a vote on Tuesday. Saito replied, “We cannot accept (the proposal on the vote).” Later, six opposition parties, including the CDP, held talks among their Diet affairs chiefs and agreed that they could not support a vote without further concessions from the ruling bloc. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]