The Liberal Democratic Party and the lower-house caucus Chudo agreed on the morning of Nov 4 that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will attend questioning at the Committee on Financial Affairs on Nov 6 on the consumption tax cut and benefit bill now under deliberation in the lower house.
The LDP said it wants the bill through the lower house the same day. Chudo said it will judge by the prime minister's answers and the two sides will keep talking.
Two hours of questions, then a vote
LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Hideki Murai met Chudo Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Yuichi Goto at the Diet on the morning of Nov 4. Murai agreed to the Nov 6 committee session with the prime minister present, a demand from the opposition, and proposed two hours of questioning followed by a vote that day and an emergency submission to the lower-house plenary.
Goto told reporters that too many issues remain open. "How to fund it, the design of the benefits — there are so many points left," he said. "I want the prime minister to answer in her own words for as long as possible."
He added that the caucus would decide whether it can vote on the strength of her answers: "We will judge from how she answers whether we can go to a vote."
An unfunded cut
The bill pairs a cut in the consumption tax — the levy charged on most goods and services at the point of sale — with benefit payments. The source does not say how the cut would be paid for, and Goto named funding as one of the unresolved points.
Komeito is preparing to oppose the bill in the lower house, with its position in the upper house left open.