The Executive Yuan has compiled a NT$607.6 billion "Supplementary Budget for the 2015 Central Government General Budget". President Lai Ching-te, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, said today (30th) that this supplementary budget covers six major aspects, including increasing social welfare, improving benefits, post-disaster reconstruction, and strengthening national defense. He hopes that the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan will have rational discussions during the new session and complete relevant budget deliberations as soon as possible. The people cannot be kept waiting due to political opposition.
Lai Qingde said at the regular meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party this afternoon that the new session of the Legislative Yuan officially opened yesterday. Executive President Zhuo Rongtai also led the heads of various ministries to the Legislative Yuan to deliver policy reports; at the beginning of the new session, important policies and budgets representing the country will be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan. In particular, this session is an important budget session. In addition to next year's central government general budget, the Executive Yuan also proposed an additional budget for this year's central government general budget and submitted it to the Legislative Yuan for review in response to new funding needs such as the stability of people's livelihood, social welfare subsidies, additional military, public and educational personnel, the improvement of national defense capabilities, and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.
Regarding the budget priorities, Lai Ching-de said, first, in terms of stabilizing people's livelihood, 187.5 billion yuan has been allocated, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs' subsidies for the frozen increase in gasoline, diesel and natural gas prices for China National Petroleum Corporation, the frozen increase in Taipower's electricity prices in the first half of the year, the Ministry of Transportation's subsidies for domestic mass transportation funds, and the Ministry of Agriculture's subsidies for chemical fertilizer raw materials and offshore fishing vessel funds, etc., to stabilize domestic prices and reduce people's living burdens.
Lai Qingde continued that, secondly, in terms of increasing social welfare, we will continue to expand care for the disadvantaged people, such as increasing the allowance for old farmers to 10,000 yuan, the national pension to 5,000 yuan, and 21.5 billion yuan in six major social welfare subsidies, so that the government's care can be further implemented to families in need. Third, in terms of improving remuneration, in order to strengthen the government’s competitiveness in retaining and recruiting talents, professional bonuses and supervisory bonuses for military and public education personnel will be increased retroactively from July 1 this year. At the same time, service subsidies for council assistants and village chiefs will be increased, as well as various service bonuses for maritime patrol personnel.
Fourth, in terms of post-disaster reconstruction, in response to the post-disaster reconstruction work of the Matai'an River Barrier Lake in Hualien, more work has been done on the improvement of the Wanrong diversion embankment and river dredging. At the same time, funds for stabilizing the production and sales of pigs in the African swine fever decontamination farm and the food waste counseling program have also been compiled. Fifth, in terms of strengthening national defense, the "Special Procurement Regulations for Strengthening Defense Resilience and Asymmetric Combat Power Plans" originally proposed by the Executive Yuan were deleted by NT$470 billion after deliberation by the Legislative Yuan.
Lai Ching-de said that based on the fact that "national security cannot wait, the defense budget cannot wait, and national defense independence cannot wait," the Executive Yuan has taken special consideration that three unmanned vehicles, including coastal surveillance drones, coastal attack drones, and small suicide unmanned vehicles, are important projects for the national military to develop asymmetric combat capabilities. They also represent the urgency of building an army and have been included in this supplementary budget.
Lai Qingde said that sixth, regarding the launch of the children's growth allowance, in order for the policy of issuing the "0 to 18-year-old growth allowance" from January 1 next year to be carried out as scheduled and quality, the relevant ministries and committees have started necessary work, so this additional budget also includes funds for preparatory work. From stabilizing prices, taking care of the disadvantaged, improving benefits, to post-disaster reconstruction, strengthening national defense, and supporting the growth of the next generation, it can be seen that what this supplementary budget addresses are all very important and urgent matters for the country at the moment.
Accordingly, Lai Qingde called on all party officials to assist the administrative team and strengthen publicity and explanation to all sectors of society. Let the public clearly understand that the supplementary budget proposed by the government this time is related to every family, every place, and the security and development of Taiwan as a whole.
Lai Qingde said that he would also like to call on the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan to return to the track of rational discussions, build consensus, and complete relevant budget deliberations as soon as possible after the new session begins. Especially in the face of urgent needs such as people's livelihood, post-disaster reconstruction, social welfare and national security, we cannot keep the people waiting because of political opposition. Let good policies be implemented smoothly, let the government have enough resources to solve problems, and let the people feel the care of the government and the changes brought by the government one day earlier.
