The allowance for veteran farmers will be increased for the third time! Liu Jianguo criticizes Blue and White: We should not rush to amend laws for elections

The Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to the "Interim Regulations on Welfare Subsidies for Elderly Farmers" on its third reading today (6th), increasing the monthly subsidy for elderly farmers to NT$15,000. Yunlin County Legislator Liu Jianguo of the Democratic Progressive Party criticized this. Blue and White hastily revised the version of the law and changed it repeatedly. The people's livelihood bill should not be manipulated because of election considerations. The subsidies for old farmers are related to social welfare and should be discussed in more detail. Otherwise, the consequences of hastily implementing the "Old Welfare Law" will be staged.

Liu Jianguo said that taking care of farmers is the consensus of all walks of life, and that old farmers should have better living security, but what is strange is that the opposition version has changed repeatedly, with 12,000 and 15,000 versions. There is no reason to vote hastily without full discussion. Will this passage crowd out other budgets of the Ministry of Agriculture, or will the "Elderly Welfare Law" be revised again, leaving out provisions to protect vulnerable groups. Rushing to amend the law is definitely not what legislators should do.

Liu Jianguo emphasized that the ruling party has shortened the review of subsidies for veteran farmers from four years to two years, and has paid close attention to price changes, moving towards a positive and steady approach. On the other hand, the Blue and White proposal was forced to read for the third time without substantial discussion. The sudden doubling of expenditures may affect the development of the Ministry of Agriculture, and may even trigger a sense of relative deprivation and class conflict among the other eight major social welfare subsidy groups. The People's Livelihood Bill should not be reduced to an election manipulation tool.

In response to the Executive Yuan’s announcement in the afternoon to amend the Elderly Welfare Act, it did not countersign it. Liu Jianguo supports the Executive Yuan's control over the exemption of health insurance premiums for the elderly over 65 years old. If it is promoted rashly, it may cause budget squeeze and obstruction. Of course, the Executive Yuan should have buffer space.

Liu Jianguo mentioned that currently, many counties and cities in Taiwan have actually launched elderly health insurance subsidies with their own financial resources. In fact, local governments can do it on their own if their financial resources allow. However, on the one hand, the opposition parties claim to have prepared budgets at the local level, and on the other hand, they amend the central government to force the central government to foot the bill. This is tantamount to the logically contradictory exaggeration of "boasting about treating guests, but asking others to pay in the end." He calls on the opposition to return to rational review and respect the national fiscal discipline and the overall balance of the budget.