July 26, 2011
The Diet on July 25 enacted a second supplementary budget of two trillion yen for FY2011, leaving room for unlimitedly rescuing the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility responsible for the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
All parties except the Japanese Communist Party voted in favor of the budget.
Following the enactment of the supplementary budget, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a press conference said, “The budget creates a framework which enables the government to spend taxpayers’ money on a bailout for TEPCO as many times as it feels the need to. TEPCO, plant makers, the electric power industry, and major banks should be responsible for providing compensation for the disaster victims.” Ichida also describes the amount of the budget allocated for disaster relief and reconstruction efforts as “totally insufficient.”
The second supplementary budget, totaling 1.99 trillion yen, sets aside more than half of the total amount of the money for measures with no specific purpose and whether the money will go to the disaster victims is uncertain. Despite the growing number of job losses and bankruptcies, the budget allots nothing for efforts to create employment. Spending for rebuilding infrastructure nominally for the agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries actually covers only a very small portion of the need of the fisheries industry alone.
The supplementary budget earmarks 28 billion yen for an organization to handle compensation for disaster victims with the aim of rescuing TEPCO and the major banks. Aside from this, the budget stipulates that it will set up another scheme in which the government spends as much as four trillion yen in taxpayers’ money to support the operations of the organization that is yet to be formed. In this scheme, the government guarantees two trillion yen for the new institution to obtain bank loans while issuing another two trillion yen in special-purpose bonds to help finance the organization.
In parliamentary discussions, representatives from both opposition and ruling parties including the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic parties, all voted in favor of the budget bill, although they pointed out serious flaws in the bill. They justified their approval for the bill on the grounds that the enactment of the budget will put more pressure on Prime Minister Kan Naoto to resign as it is one of the conditions he demanded before tendering his resignation. Support for the questionable budget by these major parties shows that they have no consideration for the needs of disaster victims.
All parties except the Japanese Communist Party voted in favor of the budget.
Following the enactment of the supplementary budget, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a press conference said, “The budget creates a framework which enables the government to spend taxpayers’ money on a bailout for TEPCO as many times as it feels the need to. TEPCO, plant makers, the electric power industry, and major banks should be responsible for providing compensation for the disaster victims.” Ichida also describes the amount of the budget allocated for disaster relief and reconstruction efforts as “totally insufficient.”
The second supplementary budget, totaling 1.99 trillion yen, sets aside more than half of the total amount of the money for measures with no specific purpose and whether the money will go to the disaster victims is uncertain. Despite the growing number of job losses and bankruptcies, the budget allots nothing for efforts to create employment. Spending for rebuilding infrastructure nominally for the agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries actually covers only a very small portion of the need of the fisheries industry alone.
The supplementary budget earmarks 28 billion yen for an organization to handle compensation for disaster victims with the aim of rescuing TEPCO and the major banks. Aside from this, the budget stipulates that it will set up another scheme in which the government spends as much as four trillion yen in taxpayers’ money to support the operations of the organization that is yet to be formed. In this scheme, the government guarantees two trillion yen for the new institution to obtain bank loans while issuing another two trillion yen in special-purpose bonds to help finance the organization.
In parliamentary discussions, representatives from both opposition and ruling parties including the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic parties, all voted in favor of the budget bill, although they pointed out serious flaws in the bill. They justified their approval for the bill on the grounds that the enactment of the budget will put more pressure on Prime Minister Kan Naoto to resign as it is one of the conditions he demanded before tendering his resignation. Support for the questionable budget by these major parties shows that they have no consideration for the needs of disaster victims.
