Japan Press Weekly

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2013 June 26 - July 2 [POLITICS]

Bills to adversely revise welfare programs scrapped

Members of anti-poverty groups gathered in the Diet building and celebrated the scrapping of the bills intended to adversely revise the livelihood protection system on the last day of the Diet session on June 26.

On that day, the bills to impose stricter criteria for providing welfare benefits were killed due to the cancellation of an Upper House welfare committee meeting, following a censure motion against Prime Minister Abe Shinzo that was approved at the House.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, at a press conference in the Diet building, said that the killing of the bills is “a great achievement made possible by citizens’ voices of protest and determined struggles.”

Shii also stressed the need in the upcoming election to deliver a severe verdict on those who have supported the bills in both houses so that they can never again submit similar bills to the Diet.

At the gathering, Sumie Kenyu, representing the Central Council for the Promotion of Social Security, pointed out that the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on June 23, in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a major setback while the JCP doubled its seats, has changed the political situation in the Diet.

Tsuji Seiji, chair of the Japan Federation of Organizations for the Protection of Life and Health, stated that its effort to repeatedly hold sit-ins near the Diet building together with welfare benefits recipients, has borne fruit with the scrapping of the bills.

JCP House of Councilors member Tamura Tomoko praised their perseverance and stated that the JCP will work hard to call for a stronger welfare program as one of major issues in the Upper House election.

Past related article:
> Bill to worsen livelihood protection system rammed through Lower House committee (June 1, 2013)
> Move to destroy safety net for the needy must be blocked (May 18, 2013)