EDITORIAL: Paralyzed Diet

Last Friday, the ruling coalition bulldozed the fiscal 2008 budget and tax bills to keep gasoline surcharges in place through the Lower House plenary session. That action outraged Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), causing the main opposition party to boycott all Upper House sessions. During Lower House deliberations on the tax bills, many disturbing revelations emerged. These centered on the wasteful spending of revenue from gasoline and other taxes earmarked for road projects and slipshod government planning for road construction. Yet, the ruling camp terminated the debate unilaterally. Minshuto says that is unacceptable.

The ruling coalition claims the Lower House spent enough time on debating the bills. But there were hardly any convincing responses from the coalition to the questions raised over these issues. Minshuto's indignation is understandable. Still, Minshuto should allow the Upper House to resume deliberations.

Boycotting sessions is a common Diet tactic for legislative battles used by minority parties many times in the past. Facing a dominant ruling camp, smaller opposition parties put up as much resistance as possible to extract concessions by taking advantage of the time limit on deliberations.

But Minshuto should now remember that it is the largest voting bloc in the Upper House. While the ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds the chairmanship of the powerful Budget Committee, the opposition camp, which also includes the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party, controls the chamber. It is a sign of old thinking that Minshuto is still sticking to tactics once exercised only by minority groups. If it believes the Lower House debate on the bills was insufficient, Minshuto should ensure that thorough deliberations are held in the opposition-controlled Upper House.

Minshuto has been arguing that the system to automatically set aside tax revenue for building new roads is now out of step with the times. The party has submitted its own bill to the Upper House to turn these tax receipts into general revenue sources that can be used for welfare, education and any other spending. The bill would also scrap the gasoline tax surcharges imposed in the form of temporary higher tax rates.

Minshuto should adopt a strategy that befits its status. It can make full use of its administrative investigation rights to force the government to provide all relevant information and then point out problems with the government's bills. It should focus its arguments by comparing the advantages of its own proposal with the government's bills. It should also consider calling local government chiefs critical about the earmarked tax revenues to testify in the Upper House as unsworn witnesses. These are the measures Minshuto should take to meet the expectations of voters who gave it the status of leading party in the Upper House.

Some Minshuto lawmakers say the party should not agree to reopen Upper House sessions unless the coalition apologizes. Others are calling for at least a week of boycotting. These arguments only make the public suspect that the party is trying to turn the situation into a battle of time, with its sights set on March 31, instead of fighting the coalition on policy.

We also have words for the ruling camp. For two days, the chairman of the Upper House Budget Committee tried to convene committee sessions by exercising his authority. It was clear the meetings would not come off due to the absence of the opposition members. Yet, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and all other members of the Cabinet gathered in the committee room and waited for the opposition members to arrive. It was an apparent ploy to cast the opposition boycott as an irresponsible act. But it amounted to unprofessional behavior. The right way for the ruling party to fulfill its responsibility is to first admit it made a mistake by steamrolling the bills and then make a sincere effort to return Diet business to its normal state and open bipartisan talks over revisions to the bills.

Besides road financing, there is a long list of issues that the Diet should address. The financial turmoil that originated in the United States is casting dark clouds over the outlook of the world economy. The appointment of the new Bank of Japan governor is also an urgent task. Reform of the Defense Ministry and a decision on policy responses to global warming cannot be postponed, either. The Diet has no time to waste.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 6(IHT/Asahi: March 7,2008)