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2012/02/08
4th supplementary budget for 2011 enacted
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On February 8, the 4th supplementary budget for fiscal 2011, totalling 2.5 trillion yen, was enacted following a vote in the plenary session of the House of Councillors, in which all the parties except for the Japanese Communist Party, voted in favour of the legislation. The supplementary budget includes funding for measures to deal with double loans, to support Japanese companies that are suffering from the effect of the strong yen and the Thai flood damage and to revitalize agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, to provide financial assistance for health checks undergone by pregnant women, to promote uptake of the cervical cancer vaccine, and to support eco-friendly cars.
The supplementary budget had been added to the agenda of the plenary session following approval by a majority vote in the Committee on Budget of the House of Councillors in the morning of that same day. The DPJ’s Emiko Uematsu made a speech in favour of the bill in the debate prior to the committee vote.
In the plenary session, the Chair of the House of Councillors Committee on Budget Hajime Ishii reported on the results of the committee deliberations, and in the following debate, the DPJ’s Ryoko Tani made a speech in favour of the legislation.
Tani said that the previous year had been one in which Japan had been visited with the national disasters of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accident, as well as the historically strong yen, and expressed the determination to make every effort to resolve the issues facing the country, and enable the Japanese people to live anxiety-free lives, and have hopes and dreams for the future. She stressed that this year would be the “first year of an era of rebirth” in which the nation would set out on the path to recovery.
Furthermore, Tani gave as reasons for voting in favour of the supplementary budget, the view that the measures included in the legislation would support efforts to rebuild regions and provide relief to survivors following the disaster, and to shore up the economy, and that many measures related to healthcare, childrearing and welfare were included, which would ensure the security and safety of the Japanese people.
Tani went on to state that the rebirth of Japan was the joint desire of the Japanese people, and thus it was necessary to take a stance that would enable the nation to progress toward this goal. She stressed the importance of enacting the supplementary budget speedily and then implementing it in a timely and appropriate fashion, in order to overcome the various problems, and to act on behalf of victims of the disasters, and of the children who carry the hopes of future generations, as well as to aim for a “Japan overflowing with dreams and hopes”, and called for Diet members to vote in favour of the legislation.
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