Democratic Party Rushes Supplementary Budget Bill at 2 AM on Weekend... Catches People Power Party Off Guard

Democratic Party Floor Leader Yoon Ho-jung announced the position on the rapid processing of the supplementary budget at an emergency press briefing held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 18th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] The supplementary budget bill worth 14 trillion won, which includes the payment plan for quarantine support funds for small business owners, has passed the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Committee solely by the Democratic Party of Korea.

On the 19th, the Democratic Party of Korea passed the supplementary budget bill around 2 a.m. under the leadership of the Budget and Accounts Committee members. The People Power Party, which had demanded an increase in the supplementary budget and requested bipartisan negotiations, was caught off guard as most of its parliamentary leadership was absent from the National Assembly.

Earlier, on the 18th, when the Budget and Accounts Committee was adjourned for the supplementary budget bill processing, the Democratic Party gathered around 5 p.m. in the committee meeting room and began a sit-in protest demanding the resumption of the meeting from Lee Jong-bae, the committee chairman from the People Power Party. After the full committee automatically adjourned past midnight on the 19th, Democratic Party members requested a reconvening, but the People Power Party refused and demanded a full committee meeting at 4 p.m. the same day, escalating the confrontation.

In response, the Democratic Party cited Article 50 of the National Assembly Act, which states that "if the chairman refuses or avoids the meeting, the secretary of the negotiation group not belonging to the chairman may act as the chairman," expressing their intention to exercise the chairmanship. Subsequently, the Democratic Party's parliamentary leadership finalized the plan to process the supplementary budget bill alone after consultations with party leader Song Young-gil and other leaders.

With the protest group guarding the Budget and Accounts Committee meeting room joined by members waiting in the assembly hall, the committee meeting was convened around 2 a.m. on the 19th, and the government’s supplementary budget bill was passed in four minutes. The People Power Party, which had initially planned to seek a consensus through weekend meetings between party secretaries, reportedly recognized the Democratic Party’s surprise processing belatedly and began responding by holding a press conference at the committee level.

The Democratic Party’s decision to push through the surprise processing despite opposition from the opposition party appears to be based on the judgment that it is no longer possible to delay the supplementary budget approval amid the upcoming presidential election and other circumstances. It is also presumed that they were aware that once the Budget and Accounts Committee passes the bill, the burden of the National Assembly Speaker’s prerogative submission in the plenary session would be reduced.

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on his Facebook, "The People Power Party continued to refuse, so the Democratic Party alone processed the government’s original budget bill in the Budget and Accounts Committee at dawn." He added, "We plan to submit and process a Democratic Party amendment that increases the government’s original budget in the plenary session," and "any shortcomings will be supplemented by the Lee Jae-myung administration after the presidential election."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.