The parties have agreed to have Prime Minister Takaichi attend questioning on the consumption tax cut bill, with the ruling bloc aiming to push it through the lower house within the week.
The Diet affairs chiefs of the ruling and opposition parties agreed on the 6th that Takaichi will take questions at the lower house Financial Affairs Committee. The ruling side wants a vote the same day. Opposition parties say they will decide on the vote after hearing the prime minister's answers.
The upper house settled its side of the schedule first, voting at a plenary session to set up a special committee to deliberate the bill.
Funding questions left open
Goto, the Diet affairs chief of the lower house group Chudo, said the prime minister should answer in her own words because major points remain unresolved.
“There are still so many points left, like how to fund it and the fine design of the benefit payments, so we would like the prime minister's own words to answer them.”Goto, Diet affairs chief, Chudo
The source does not name Goto's given name or set out what the benefit payments are, beyond their being tied to the bill.
If the ruling bloc holds to its plan, the committee's questions and the vote would fall on the same day, leaving little time between the prime minister's answers and the chamber's decision.