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*Gov't to submit 2nd extra budget to Diet 'early next year'*
TOKYO, Nov. 25 KYODO
(Prime Minister Taro Aso answers questions from reporters on a second
supplementary budget... )
The government decided Tuesday to submit a second supplementary budget
for fiscal 2008 to tackle the current financial crisis ''early next year''
to a regular Diet session to be convened in January, rather than to the
ongoing extra session, *Prime Minister Taro Aso* said.
Aso's Liberal Democratic Party notified the main opposition Democratic
Party of Japan of the decision at a meeting of senior lawmakers of the two
parties, but the DPJ expressed strong opposition, saying it cannot accept
the decision and urged the LDP to reconsider it, DPJ Secretary General Yukio
Hatoyama told reporters.
The decision has stirred expectations among ruling parties lawmakers
that the House of Representative election is likely to be called next spring
or later after the fiscal 2009 budget is enacted.
The DPJ, adopting a confrontational approach toward the LDP, plans to
submit to the House of Councillors its own economic measures, according to
DPJ lawmakers.
The LDP and the DPJ agreed to hold the first parliamentary debate
between Aso, also LDP chief, and DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa on Friday to
discuss mainly the timing of the submission of the second extra budget,
lawmakers said.
Aso said three items -- a budget to secure people's livelihoods,
financing for a bill to bolster the banking sector if it is passed and
addressing a large decline in tax revenues in the current fiscal year --
will be included in the second extra budget, adding that the amount of the
three items is expected to become clear around Dec. 20.
On the decision made at the meeting of senior government officials and
ruling party lawmakers from the LDP and the New Komeito party, Aso said,
''It would be appropriate for the (budget) to be submitted altogether early
next year as it could not be compiled very soon.''
He also said the government and the ruling parties will seriously
discuss reform of the tax system and compilation of the fiscal 2009 budget
in December as some items in the measures to secure people's livelihoods
will require tax reform and will be included in the fiscal 2009 budget.
The second extra budget for fiscal 2008 through March 2009 would
finance an additional economic stimulus package worth 26.9 trillion yen,
unveiled by Aso on Oct. 30, to cushion the negative impact of the global
financial crisis on people's livelihoods.
Aso, meanwhile, brushed aside concerns that small and midsize companies
could face financing difficulties from the year-end to the early part of
next year because the new economic package in the second extra budget will
not have been implemented, saying the first extra budget has already been
implemented.
On the length of the extension of the current Diet session, Aso said he
will consult with the ruling parties, emphasizing that it is important to
secure passage of the financial bill and a bill to continue Japan's
antiterrorism refueling mission.
Aso said he would like to make a decision on the extension by Friday as
the current session is scheduled to end on Sunday.
The ruling parties plan to have the ongoing Diet session extended
beyond its scheduled end on Nov. 30 in a bid to pass the two bills,
according to political sources.
The ruling parties are considering either extending the session in two
stages or only extending it once beyond the year-end.
The first plan is to extend it to around Dec. 20, when a second vote
for the refueling bill in the lower house becomes capable, and again to
around Jan. 5 when a second vote for the financial bill becomes possible if
the DPJ refuses to vote on it, the sources said.
Last week, the DPJ's Ozawa urged Aso to submit the second extra budget
during the current session and said his party would cooperate with the
ruling camp in Diet deliberations if the government submits the extra budget
to the ongoing session.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura expressed skepticism about
the DPJ's intentions, saying the DPJ had broken an agreement reached between
it and the LDP on a voting schedule for the bill to continue Japan's
refueling mission.
==Kyodo
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