Japan Innovation Party Likely to Back Budget Again on 2nd Pass Through Lower House

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:01 JST, March 19, 2025

The Japan Innovation Party is likely to support the ruling parties in the House of Representatives in another vote on the fiscal 2025 budget. The budget bill is currently in the House of Councillors, where it is expected to be further revised and approved soon.

The party has dialed up criticism of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is also the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, after he handed out gift certificates worth ¥100,000 each to 15 Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers. However, the JIP decided it would have to cooperate with the ruling parties, which want to approve a budget before the fiscal year ends, in order to achieve its policy goals, such as free high school tuition.

The government and ruling parties will further revise the budget as they have decided to withdraw reforms of the “high-cost medical expense benefit system,” which is intended to reduce the burden on patients who have high medical costs.

Once the upper house has passed the budget bill, it will be sent back to the House of Representatives, where the ruling parties do not have a majority. Attention will be on the JIP to see how the party will act. If it lends its support, the budget will become law.

The JIP has opposed reforming the benefits for those with high medical costs. The party also reached an agreement with the LDP and Komeito that includes free high school tuition, and subsequently agreed to support the budget the first time it went through the lower house.

“The problem here is the Prime Minister’s actions,” Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, coleader of the JIP, told reporters on Monday. “[The party’s] stance on the budget remains unchanged.”

Meanwhile, Ishiba apologized again over the gift certificate issue at the upper house Budget Committee on Monday. “I was not in line with public sentiment. I apologize for that,” he said.

“Legally, there is no problem, but I don’t believe I have fully gained the public’s understanding. I am committed to providing a sincere and thorough explanation,” Ishiba said at the LDP’s board meeting, also on Monday.