January 29, 2021

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, at a press conference held in the Diet building on January 28, protested against the forcible enactment of the third supplementary budget and expressed his determination to continue working to realize what opposition parties called for in their budget recompilation proposal.

Shii said, "The JCP and other opposition parties proposed a recompilation of the supplementary budget in order to reduce unnecessary expenditures such as for 'Go To' campaigns and instead to use that money for healthcare, PCR tests, and the provision of compensation. However, the ruling forces totally ignored this proposal and steamrollered the budget through the Diet."

He said, "At present, many hospitals are overwhelmed and many coronavirus-infected people are forced to recuperate at home. The number of COVID patients dying at home is increasing. The government, despite such circumstances, allocated more than 1-trillion-yen in the budget for the 'Go To' campaigns which have been said to be a major contributor to the COVID-19 spread."

"On the other hand," he continued to say, "the government terminated its financial support for small- and midsized-enterprises and for subsidizing their rent payments. It turned out to be just one-time grants. There is no second grant in the third supplementary budget."

He added, "We opposition parties will continue making efforts to provide financial support for small-business sustainment and for their rent payments as well as to create a new grant for needy people in line with what we included in our budget recompilation proposal. At the same time, we will demand the radical improvement of PCR testing capacity and compensatory payments to medical institutions to cover their losses in earnings."