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On February 10, the DPJ held a Diet Affairs Committee meeting with the Diet Affairs chiefs of the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the People’s New Party. They discussed their joint response to the three bills relating to the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 and to the budget proposal for fiscal 2009.
DPJ Diet Affairs Committee Chair Kenji Yamaoka held a press conference following the meeting. He criticised the actions of the government and ruling parties, who had used the power of the Chair of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives to force the start of debate on the budget for fiscal 2009 in that committee, despite the fact that bills relating to the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 were still being discussed in the Committee on Financial Affairs in the House of Councillors, saying “The second supplementary budget is still being discussed in the House of Councillors, so they should proceed cautiously.” He announced that for this reason the opposition parties had decided that they would not respond to the governing parties’ call to convene the Committee on Budget in the House of Representatives.
Furthermore, Yamaoka commented on the debate due to be held on February 12, saying, “The House of Councillors will thoroughly discuss the bills, and if debate is sufficient, we will engage in the debate on the bills relating to the second supplementary budget in the House of Councillors Committee on Financial Affairs with the intention of agreeing to a vote, to take place as soon as February 12.”
Yamaoka also criticised movements by the government and ruling parties to use the chairman’s prerogative to convene sessions of the Committee on Budget and the plenary session of the House of Representatives on February 10 and 12, in order to hamper debate in the House of Councillors Committee on Financial Affairs, saying, “They do not want to vote on the bills relating to the second supplementary budget, so they are proclaiming that the opposition is blocking the passing of the second supplementary budget, and using the stopgap measure of trying to suggest to the electorate that it is the opposition who are resisting.”
Following this, Yamaoka commented on poll figures released by media organisations showing the Aso Cabinet’s support ratings have taken a sudden drop, saying, “It goes without saying that the support ratings for the Aso Cabinet have passed into the danger zone, but more importantly, the people’s livelihoods have entered the danger zone.” Yamaoka went on, “If we continue in this fashion, Japan will sink. We must hold an election as soon as possible, realise a change of government, and restore people’s livelihoods.”
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