Parliament to meet 42 more days

In a move to get undemocratic bills enacted, the ruling coalition parties on June 17 agreed to extend the 150-day Diet session by 42 days after it ends on June 19.

The ruling parties are trying to get two bills enacted by July 31: one for postal services deregulations and the other for the adverse revision of the medical insurance system.

The prime minister also says he will do his utmost to get all pending government bills enacted, including the contingency bills that would mobilize the whole nation for U.S. wars, and bills that would control media activities in the name of protection of privacy.

At a news conference on the same day, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi criticized the ruling coalition, saying, "The aim of the extension is to railroad through the undemocratic bills, which is impermissible."

He also said that the government has to do two things before putting the pending bills to parliamentary discussions: make clear how the falsified report was released by the Defense Agency concerning the illegal list-making of individuals who sought information from the agency, and revoke the Lower House committee approval of the bill for the adverse revision of the medical insurance system. (end)