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On June 22, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya met with the secretaries general of the various parties inside the Diet building.
Following the meeting, Okada informed reporters that he had made a proposal to the other parties which suggested extending the Diet session by 70 days, until August 31. He explained that within these 70 days, the DPJ intended to proceed with debate on a variety of legislation related to the disaster and the nuclear power accident, including in particular the following legislative items which are of particular interest to Prime Minister Kan: (1) a special exemption law regarding the issue of government bonds, (2) the second supplementary budget, and (3) a bill for the promotion of renewable energy.
Okada also emphasized that he had explained that “the extension of the Diet session and the question of when there will be a change of Prime Ministers are separate issues and not connected.”
Furthermore, with regard to the agreement which the DPJ had been in the process of drafting with the LDP and Komeito which was to state that “the Diet would be extended for 50 days, and under the authority of the Kan administration, the second supplementary budget and the special exemption law regarding the issue of government bonds will be enacted and actual discussions on the bill for the promotion of renewable energy will begin.” Okada commented, “Considering [these items] are a mutual package, it is not always easy to obtain agreement in writing when we have not been able to reach an agreement on timing. He went on to stress that he had confirmed that, apart from the length of the extension to the Diet session, the various parties were currently of one mind with regard to Diet administration, and said that he intending to proceed with the extended session in accordance with the proposal.
On June 24, the 70-day extension to the Diet session was approved by the House of Representatives.
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