Governing Party Passes Budget Proposal at Assembly Panel
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) passed the government's budget proposal at the National Assembly budget panel unilaterally early Thursday morning with opposition members absent.
Lawmakers from the GNP tried to deal with the proposal at the budget panel conference room but changed the venue as members of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) blocked them from entering the original conference room.
In this process, Rep. Shim Jae-chul of the GNP, head of the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, invoked his rights to maintain order.
Currently, lawmakers from the rival parties confront at the Assembly main chamber as the GNP tries to pass the motion at the full session before the end of this year.
Earlier, negotiators of the governing and opposition parties failed to reach an agreement on the government's budget proposal for next year.
The failure in reaching a last-minute deal raised the possibility of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) railroading the budget.
Chief policymakers of the GNP and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) met again Wednesday, but failed to narrow their differences over a four-river refurbishment project.
GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo said his party would try to reach a bipartisan agreement but if it fails, the ruling party will seek a vote on the budget proposal today. The GNP has 169 seats in the 299-member National Assembly, enough to pass it on its own.
His DP counterpart Lee Kang-rae was skeptical about the prospects of reaching a consensus, saying chances for this were very low.
Speaker Kim Hyong-o, meanwhile, took his seat in the Assembly's main chamber for the second consecutive day Wednesday, reiterating his demand that the two parties make a compromise.
If no deal is made, two options remain for the parties.
The GNP can push for a vote on the proposal in the plenary session on the last day of the year, despite resistance from the DP.
If the proposal fails to get Assembly approval due to the DP successfully blocking it, the government will be required to set up a provisional budget for the first time since the 1960s. The fiscal year starts Jan. 1.
A provisional budget is the worst case scenario for the two sides, because it will take a huge toll on their support bases in next year's local elections.
Some DP lawmakers are concerned that President Lee Myung-bak's soaring popularity after his summit diplomacy in the nuclear power plant deal with the United Arab Emirates will have a negative effect on the opposition party. Korea won a $40 billion contract to build four nuclear power plants in the Middle East country, Sunday.