Pension cut bill will be judged in Upper House poll

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi commented on an enactment of the pension cut bill on June 5 after passage in the House of Councilors plenary session by the majority force of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties as follows in gist:

The JCP criticizes the ruling parties for railroading the bill through both the Lower and Upper Houses without adequate discussion. With more discussions revealing more defects in the pension cut bill, it was a tyrannical act in that the ruling forces ignored an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties on the schedule of the discussions and deprived the opposition parties of their right of deliberation.

The JCP will confront the LDP and Komei on the new pension law in Diet debate following the House of Councilors election in summer and will widely publicize a JCP proposal on the pension system as well as strengthening the struggle to prevent the law from coming into effect.

The JCP makes every effort to achieve its advance in the coming House of Councilors election in order to hand down the popular judgment on the ruling parties that have promoted such a bad bill and one-sidedly proceeded with the enactment of the bill.

In efforts not to unilaterally pass the bill by the ruling majority without any discussion, it was meaningful for the JCP to have taken the floor as much as possible on behalf of the people and forced its argument to be heard.

Despite tactical differences, the JCP will put up a fight on common ground with other opposition parties. (end)