Japan Extra Budget Seen Enacted Fri.

Tokyo, June 1 (Jiji Press)–The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed Monday to put the government’s fiscal 2026 supplementary budget bill to a vote by a House of Councillors committee on Friday and then to a vote by the full Upper House later that day. The agreement was reached at a meeting between Yoshihiko Isozaki, the LDP’s Diet affairs chief in the Upper House, and CDP Diet affairs chief Yoshitaka Saito. The two parties also agreed to hold a parliamentary debate between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who is also head of the LDP, and opposition leaders in July. Given that such a debate will not take place in June, Saito demanded that the debate time be extended from 45 minutes. Isozaki indicated his party’s intention to accept the demand. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, is scheduled to begin deliberations on the budget bill on Wednesday and is expected to approve it on Thursday. Last week, the LDP and the Centrist Reform Alliance, the largest opposition party in the Lower House, agreed that the budget committee of each Diet chamber would spend one day deliberating on the bill. However, the CDP, the largest opposition force in the Upper House, objected to the agreement and has since been in talks with the LDP. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]