Democratic Party Proposes Law to Strengthen National Assembly's Budget Review Authority... 'Measure to Overcome Superficial Budget Review'

Many seats were empty at the Budget and Accounts Committee plenary meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th of last month, during the peak of the local election campaign. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Kwon Hyun-ji] The Democratic Party of Korea has proposed a bill to strengthen the National Assembly's budget review function. With the parliamentary organization not properly formed, conflicts between the ruling and opposition parties are expected to intensify.

On the 16th, Democratic Party lawmaker Maeng Seong-gyu introduced a bill to significantly enhance the National Assembly's budget review authority by converting the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts into a permanent committee solely responsible for budget and accounts, and by introducing a zero-based budgeting system that periodically reexamines all financial projects. Experts evaluated that "the bill establishes institutional measures that strengthen the National Assembly's budget review authority from the total budget amount to all sectoral projects, moving beyond the superficial budget reviews of the past."

On the same day, Maeng proposed three bills related to the National Assembly Act, the National Finance Act, and the National Assembly Budget Office Act. First, he amended the National Assembly Act to change the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts into the Budget Committee, a permanent committee (with 30 members) exclusively responsible for budget issues and prohibiting concurrent positions. The Budget Committee is to conduct a three-stage review process: reviewing and adjusting the total fiscal amount and expenditure limits by committee, followed by standing committee reviews, and then comprehensive review and adjustment of the standing committees' results. Additionally, budget formulation guidelines from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and fund operation plan preparation guidelines must be reported to the National Assembly before being notified to ministries, and each ministry must report their budget requests to the National Assembly before submitting them to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The bill also includes a zero-based budgeting system that reflects the results of settlement reviews in budget formulation and reexamines all financial projects from scratch every five years.

Although this bill has not yet been adopted as the official party stance of the Democratic Party, there is significant consensus within the party. Lawmaker Maeng proposed this bill considering the need to improve the National Assembly's budget review system while serving as a floor leader of the Budget Committee.

The ruling party expressed strong concerns. If the National Assembly's budget review authority is strengthened in the current situation of a minority ruling party, the current government's room for maneuver could be limited. Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, criticized, "I find it strange that the National Assembly Act amendments by Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon, which strengthen administrative legislation review, and Maeng's bill suddenly emerged in the current situation. Making the Budget Committee permanent significantly changes the framework of the National Assembly, and it seems like the Democratic Party is just showing off its muscle."

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