Although the Diet, as parliament is known, has completed one-third of its current 69-day extraordinary session set to end on Dec. 10, it has started deliberating only a few bills, including legislation aimed at revising the infectious disease law to prepare for future pandemics.
During the current session, the government plans to submit 18 bills. So far, no bills have been passed.
The government is expected to submit a fiscal 2022 supplementary budget plan designed to finance its latest economic package in November.
But the House of Representatives Budget Committee is unlikely to start deliberating the extra budget until Nov. 21 at the earliest, less than a month before the planned end of the session, as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is scheduled to tour Southeast Asia in mid-November.
“The current Diet schedule is tight,” a senior official at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said, hinting at the possibility of an extension of the current session by about a week.
“The ongoing session will be extended for sure,” another senior LDP official said.
During the current session, the Prime Minister’s Office has faced criticism for failing to communicate well with the LDP’s Diet Affairs Committee, causing dissatisfaction among ruling party members over the government’s handling of parliamentary business.
One LDP member criticized the government over its plan to submit an extra budget in the middle of a Diet session, forcing the Budget Committees of both chambers to meet again and offering opposition parties a chance to grill the administration in parliament.
“Such a Diet schedule is ridiculous,” the LDP member said, blaming staff at the Prime Minister’s Office for causing the situation.
At a Lower House plenary meeting Tuesday, Kishida was questioned by opposition lawmakers on details of the resignation of economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa over his relationship with the controversial Unification Church.
Kishida accepted opposition demands for explanations on Yamagiwa’s resignation, as opposition parties threatened to boycott Diet deliberations, sources familiar with the situation said.
The government “has created a troublesome precedent,” said an LDP lawmaker, who once served as chairman of the party’s Diet Affairs Committee.
“From now on, the prime minister will be asked to give an explanation at the Diet every time a Cabinet minister steps down,” the LDP member said.
At a plenary House of Councillors meeting on Friday, Kishida also answered questions from opposition parties about Yamagiwa’s resignation.
Meanwhile, a bill to narrow Lower House vote-value disparities by redrawing single-seat constituency boundaries will likely be enacted during the current session.
The government also aims to enact relief measures for victims of so-called spiritual sales and those who are manipulated into making large donations to religious groups. (The JapanTimes)
