Japan Ruling, Opposition Parties at Odds over Extra Budget

Tokyo, May 31 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling and opposition parties are divided over the government’s draft fiscal 2026 supplementary budget, for which parliamentary debates are set to start Wednesday. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes to have the extra budget enacted quickly. While a majority of funds under the budget is planned to be earmarked as reserve money, opposition parties are demanding that emergency economic measures be included in the budget as well. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Takaichi, and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, aim to enact the draft budget Friday. But it remains to be seen whether they can win understanding of the opposition side. At a meeting Friday, Hiroshi Kajiyama, the LDP’s parliamentary affairs chief, and his counterpart from the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, Kazuhiko Shigetoku, agreed that the draft budget will be debated at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, or parliament, on Thursday and at the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, on Friday. But the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the biggest party in the Upper House, voiced frustration, complaining that the deliberation schedule for the chamber was decided by the Lower House side. Kajiyama and Shigetoku are members of the Lower House. The CDP demanded that two days be secured for Upper House deliberations on the draft budget or intensive debates attended by the prime minister be held in not only June but also July. The opposition party, all of whose lawmakers are Upper House members, is slated to hold a meeting with Upper House members of the LDP soon. Of the 3,113.5-billion-yen draft extra budget, 2.5 trillion yen is set aside as reserve funds that are expected to be used for measures to address surges in energy prices amid persistent Middle East tensions. Reserve funds are used in the event of emergencies such as large-scale natural disasters, and the government can decide their use flexibly. But opposition parties, including the CRA, the CDP and Komeito, have taken issue with the large proportion of reserve funds and are planning to urge the government to show specific spending items and amounts to be spent on each item. To deal with soaring prices reflecting the Middle East turmoil, the three parties have come up with a package of emergency economic measures, such as an expansion in employment adjustment subsidies and stable supplies of naphtha-based products, and submitted it to the government. Also, the secretaries-general of the CRA, the CDP and Komeito agreed last Tuesday to consider jointly submitting to the Diet a motion to amend the draft supplementary budget. CRA Secretary-General Takeshi Shina told reporters that the government’s response is insufficient as it is mainly focusing on aid to help lower electricity and gas bills and gasoline subsidies. “We aim to demonstrate our measures addressing the fundamental nature of problems, such as support for business operators and ways to resolve supply constraints,” he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]