Ruling parties railroad through FY2003 draft national budget

The Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Conservative Parties used their seat majority to ram through the FY2003 draft national budget in the House of Representatives Plenary Session on March 4.

On the previous day, the three ruling parties rushed to a vote on the draft budget in the Lower House Budget Committee by cutting short the discussion.

The ruling parties rejected a bill introduced by the four opposition parties calling for the recompilation of the government budget in order to freeze increases in people's burdens and improve measures for smaller businesses and unemployment.

At the Lower House Budget Committee meeting, Yajima Tsuneo of the Japanese Communist Party strongly protested against the ruling parties' outrageous move and demanded that the draft national budget be recompiled. (end)