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The government and the ruling and opposition parties are calling for “thoughtful discussions,” so they should correct the outdated mechanism of the Diet and discuss policy and budget items in specific terms.
The ruling and opposition parties have established a council on Diet reform, headed by Yasukazu Hamada, the chairman of the House of Representatives Rules and Administration Committee. The council will reportedly discuss issues such as promoting deliberations on lawmaker-initiated bills and ensuring sufficient time for questions by small parliamentary groups, as well as giving earlier notice of questions to be asked.
More active debate on lawmaker-initiated bills and giving consideration to small parliamentary groups are steps that the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties have been calling for. It is necessary to realize both, but the problem has been the content.
In 2019, the CDPJ and two other opposition parties submitted a bill to repeal the security-related legislation that allows for the limited exercise of the right of collective self-defense. In 2022, the CDPJ was among four opposition parties that submitted a bill to temporarily lower the consumption tax rate.
Given the increasingly severe security environment, the limited exercise of the right of collective self-defense is essential for defense policy. The consumption tax is an important source of revenue for social security, so lowering the rate is unrealistic. It is not unreasonable that the ruling camp did not agree to deliberate the bills submitted by the opposition.
During the current Diet session, the House of Representatives Budget Committee held a review of budgetary items on a ministry-by-ministry basis for the first time. The aim was to examine whether there is waste or inefficiency in the requests of each ministry and agency for the fiscal 2025 budget proposal.
In the Budget Committee meeting last year, the opposition parties spent a lot of time deliberating on the “politics and money” issues of the Liberal Democratic Party. Compared to that, their attitude has improved somewhat as they tackle policy debates.
However, as a result of the review, the CDPJ has asserted that there is a large amount of waste in the funds managed by each ministry and agency and is calling for the government and ruling parties to revise the budget proposal by nearly ¥4 trillion.
For example, the CDPJ argued that a fund to support the export of defense equipment “has hardly been executed and is probably unnecessary.”
Executing the budget from the fund involves processes that have to be conducted step-by-step, such as contracts with manufacturers and the production of equipment. It is important to examine whether the large balance in the fund is actually the result of problems with the fund’s management. It is unreasonable to say it is a waste without such an examination.
The CDPJ seems to be trying to tout revision itself as an achievement by the party, rather than the items of the budget proposal. That is far from having thoughtful discussions.
In 2023, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to “work to give prompt notice of questions” to be made at the Diet. However, notifications still come late, and many bureaucrats are busy preparing answers until the early hours of the morning. Such long working hours may be a reason why young people are becoming hesitant to seek a career as a bureaucrat.
It can also be an important issue to revitalize debates between the prime minister and party leaders, in which the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties discuss matters from a broad perspective.
