Supplementary budget forcibly passed through Lower House with attendance of only ruling parties

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Supplementary budget forcibly passed through Lower House with attendance of only ruling parties

The Liberal Democratic and Komei parties on February 2 forcibly passed the FY 2006 supplementary budget through the Budget Committee and the plenary session of the House of Representatives with the attendance of only the ruling parties.

The opposition parties demanded that Prime Minister Abe Shinzo dismiss Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yanagisawa Hakuo for his remarks characterizing women as "birth-giving machines," but the government and the ruling parties defended Yanagisawa, saying, "He is not a sexist."

The Democratic, Social Democratic, and People's New parties boycotted the committee meeting and the plenary session. Demanding that in such an abnormal situation the ruling parties refrain from unilaterally convening the committee meeting and the plenary session, the Japanese Communist Party walked out of the committee meeting and absented itself from the plenary session.

When Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki Yasuhisa visited JCP Chair Shii Kazuo to ask for the JCP's attendance at the plenary session, Shii strongly protested, saying, "Stop the reckless Diet administration!"

At a press conference later in the day, Shii said as follows:

"The JCP had demanded that the government dismiss Yanagisawa before the budget committee meeting began. We made representations to the prime minister on January 31. However, it was not the government rejection that prompted us to walk out.

We decided not to attend the committee meeting because the ruling parties violated the rules of due Diet procedure by unilaterally convening the meeting and forcibly passing the supplementary budget in this abnormal situation that had been created by the government rejection of the dismissal.

I must stress that before anything else the ruling parties must end violating due rules."
- Akahata, February 3, 2007