Japan ruling bloc led by Takaichi rams FY 2026 budget through lower house

The unusually short 59 hours of deliberations over the draft budget worth 122.31 trillion yen ($769 billion) drew criticism from opposition forces, which lambasted the ruling parties for trying to "bulldoze" it through and made a last-ditch, unsuccessful attempt to oust the head of the powerful Budget Committee With the passage, the parliamentary battle moves to the House of Councillors from Monday, where the ruling camp of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party does not have a majority But the coalition's overwhelming lower house majority means budget plans can pass even if rejected by the upper house The submission of the draft budget came about a month later than in previous years, due to the Feb. 8 general election called by Takaichi. Her ruling coalition scored a landslide victory and now control over three-quarters of the 465-seat lower house Opposition parties have been calling for more Diet deliberations, taking issue with the ruling camp's "high-handed" approach and what one opposition party leader described as a "disregard" for the democratic process The 59-hour debate over 15 days was the briefest budget discussion in recent decades, beating out the 66 hours and 30 minutes for the fiscal 2007 budget under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Four opposition parties, including the Centrist Reform Alliance, jointly submitted a motion late Thursday demanding the dismissal of Tetsushi Sakamoto, the lower house Budget Committee chairman, for abusing his authority by cutting short Diet deliberations to expedite passage of the budget bill The motion was voted down at the plenary session on Friday Takaichi, who was reelected prime minister following the general election, has been adamant about passing the budget by the end of March and has sought opposition support to advance her signature policies, including bold investment in strategic areas She has stressed she wants to "avoid any difficulties in people's daily lives." Failure to pass the budget by end of March could delay disbursement of funds for the new fiscal year, forcing the government to legislate a stopgap budget covering only basic governmental services The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in recent weeks has clouded the outlook for resource-poor Japan, sending crude oil prices higher and weakening the yen The budget approved by the Cabinet in December reflects Takaichi's expansionary fiscal stance to spur growth and boost defense spending, despite concerns over public finances The general-account budget is a record high for the second straight year, exceeding the 115.20 trillion yen initial budget for fiscal 2025, as rising prices push up personnel and other fixed costs and an aging population swells welfare expenditure The budget includes a record 9.04 trillion yen earmarked for defense-related purposes The government plans to issue 29.58 trillion yen in new bonds to cover a revenue shortfall, underscoring Japan's heavy reliance on debt at a time when its fiscal health ranks as the worst among Group of Seven economies Earlier, it was reported that Japan had submitted a bill to set up the National Intelligence Council