2026 General Budget Stalls Amid Government Crisis

TaiwanPlus News

The executive and the legislature are at odds over the 2026 general budget. Cabinet ministers are urging lawmakers to approve the budget fast, before the delay impacts public programs. But opposition lawmakers are reluctant to move forward amid a constitutional crisis.

Transcript

00:00Just days before the new year, 9.5 billion U.S. dollars of funding for Taiwan's government

00:05is stuck in limbo. If lawmakers cannot agree on the Cabinet's proposed budget in time,

00:11the Statistics Bureau says major programs could be impacted.

00:30The budget bottleneck comes amid intense political feuding, kicked off after Premier Zhou Rongcai

00:49blocked an opposition-backed local government funding bill from taking effect.

00:53And while lawmakers can make changes to the general budget, the opposition says the Premier

00:58could reject their version again.

01:18The standoff has seen opposition lawmakers take drastic action, moving forward with proposals

01:24to impeach the Premier and President Lai Ching-ze.

01:27But their colleagues in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party are urging them to put

01:32aside differences for now and pass the budget. They say not doing so would hurt the country's

01:37social programs.

01:38坐月子补助的这个生育补到10万全落空.

01:45第二个,我们的育婴流停照顾弹性的这个补贴也被卡住.

01:51再也都说这是好政策。可是你预算为什么不给。

01:56当然第三,就是孩子生出来之后,我们都要让托育公共化更升级。

02:03而这些托育设施的软硬体的提升的预算也全部都遭殃。

02:10With Taiwan's government at a standstill, the legislature is running out of time to move

02:15forward on a budget bill, putting everything from disaster relief to child care at risk.

02:20Patrick Chen and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended