PPP slams DP for railroading budget through committee

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PPP slams DP for railroading budget through committee

Published: 20 Feb. 2022, 18:56 Updated: 20 Feb. 2022, 19:34

A meeting is held by the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts on at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the National Assembly in western Seoul, attended mainly by members of the opposition People Power Party (PPP). The meeting was held in protest after the ruling party passing a supplementary budget in a hasty meeting on Saturday morning without the PPP members. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) unilaterally passed a supplementary budget bill through the National Assembly's budget committee in a meeting called in the early hours of Saturday morning, causing an outcry from the opposition party.

The two parties are now expected to clash over the supplementary budget when it is brought to a National Assembly plenary session on Monday.

The DP called the meeting of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts at 2:08 a.m. on Saturday and passed the government’s 14 trillion won ($11.7 billion) budget without any members of the opposition People Power Party (PPP) or other parties attending.

In the absence of the committee chair, who is a member of the PPP, Rep. Maeng Sung-kyu, the vice chair of the committee and a member of the DP, led the meeting. The budget was approved in four minutes.

Most of the supplementary budget will go to 3.2 million shop owners and business owners around the country who will each get 3 million won. An additional 1.9 trillion won will go to subsidies for small-sized business owners who have seen their business disrupted by Covid-19 and 1.5 trillion won will be spent on fortifying disinfection measures.

The DP explained that passing the budget was "inevitable and desperately demanded by the people," according to floor leader Yun Ho-jung on Saturday.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance promised earlier this month that the budget will be executed as soon as it's passed by the National Assembly, but did not specify dates.

The PPP, which has called for a larger supplementary budget, immediately objected the attempt to force the budget through the committee stage, calling it illegal.

Budget committee vice chair Yoo Sung-kull, a member of the PPP, and 12 other members called a committee meeting at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The meeting was chaired by committee chairman Lee Jong-bae and attended by all PPP members and Maeng.

Rep. Yoo Sang-bum of the PPP argued during the meeting that by forcing the budget through the committee stage without providing official notice, the DP has broken the National Assembly Act.

"A meeting held without notice does not count and it's a violation of legal procedure," he said.

“We only received a text message at 11:54 p.m. [on Feb. 18] that the meeting will begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday," added Rep. Kim Seung-su. "The supplementary budget has been passed in what clearly seems like a collusion between the Democratic Party and the Ministry of Economy and Finance."

The ruling party maintained that the item called for urgency and that no laws were violated.

"The number of Omicron variant infections is almost hitting 110,000 on a daily basis and the agony of small business owners keeps building by the day," Yun said on Saturday. "We had no reason not to deem this an emergency, which is why we ask for chairman [Lee's] understanding."

Rep. Maeng claimed that Lee evaded his duties as the committee leader on an urgent matter concerning the people’s lives.

According to the DP, the Saturday morning meeting was held upon the request of over a quarter of the committee’s members, which meets the standard required by law.

"We resorted to a unilateral decision because the opposition party did not cooperate," Maeng said.

The DP's presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung supported the party's decision through a Facebook post on Sunday.

"The decision was inevitable as the PPP members did not attend because they disagreed with the government's proposal," wrote Lee Jae-myung. "Business owners are in dire need of quick subsidies and recovery while their debts increase and revenues decrease."

The PPP maintained that a proper meeting needs to take place and that the supplementary budget needs to be legally passed by the budget committee.

"The committee chairman clearly stated that Saturday's meeting did not take place legally," Yoo said. "Because the meeting did not take place, we cannot argue over whether the items that were discussed were right or wrong. We demand that an official committee meeting be held so that the budget, as well as other matters, can be discussed swiftly."

Despite the PPP's Sunday meeting, the DP plans to bring the supplementary budget for a vote on the main floor on Monday.

The DP will hand in a 17.5 trillion won budget at the plenary session, 3.5 trillion won more than the government's initial proposal. The additional amount will be spent on Covid-19 self-testing kits and subsidies for freelance workers.

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]