"Negotiation and Coordination Are Truly Difficult"... Lee Jae-myung at 0.5 Line Reflects on First Budget Negotiation Experience

"Budget Negotiations Not Satisfactory, But Considered a Good Deal"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 23rd regarding the processing of next year's budget, "I cannot be satisfied, but I think it is a well-made agreement that cannot be avoided."

On the same day, ahead of the plenary session for budget processing, Lee shared his thoughts and evaluations on the budget process at a Democratic Party members' meeting.

Lee, who entered the National Assembly for the first time through this year's by-election, experienced his first budget process. Having described himself as a "half first-term" member, he said, "As a first-time lawmaker handling the budget, I thought, 'Ah, negotiation and coordination are really difficult.' Ultimately, this process is about minimizing differences, but on the other hand, I realized it is an inevitable structure where it is difficult to have one-sided opinions fully reflected."

He continued, "From our perspective, we would have liked to see more of our principles reflected, but since that is not 100% possible in reality, I think the floor leader Park Hong-geun and the leadership team sufficiently secured what was necessary."

Lee said, "We had the authority (majority seats) to either approve the original bill, reject it if no compromise was reached, or create a third option by drafting a revised bill for approval. However, if we had created a revised bill, due to legal limitations on authority, it would inevitably have to be cut, and it would never improve the lives of the people suffering on the ground." The decision to abandon the Democratic Party's initially considered solo revision card and seek bipartisan agreement was a desperate measure given the reality that the government holds the authority to approve budget increases.

He explained that through negotiations on the budget and related bills, they achieved some success in blocking ultra-rich tax cuts. Lee said, "Although the agreement was reached through compromise, I think we largely achieved the goal of blocking ultra-rich tax cuts that we aimed to protect," adding, "In addition, we also achieved some results in tax cuts for the public." He continued, "From the perspective of securing livelihood budgets such as local currency, senior citizen jobs, and public housing budgets?which we could not have secured if we had processed them through a revised bill?I think it is a well-made agreement that cannot be avoided, even though it is not fully satisfactory."

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