[Exclusive] Pass Rate '7%' Last Place... Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee Holding Back the Economy

Comprehensive Analysis of National Assembly Subcommittee Bill Processing Status
Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee Processes 5 out of 69 Bills in One Year
Bill Passage Rate at 7.2%, Lowest Among All Subcommittees
Budget and Fiscal Bills Including Fiscal Rules Stalled for Months

On the 11th of last month, the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee of the Planning and Finance Committee was held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The bill passage rate of the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee under the Planning and Finance Committee was found to be only 7%. Criticism is being raised that the subcommittee, which was created to improve the productivity of the National Assembly, is instead holding back the livelihood economy.

According to data obtained by Asia Economy on the 15th through an information disclosure request from the National Assembly Secretariat, the total number of bills reviewed by all subcommittees under standing committees of the National Assembly over the past year since March last year was 4,905. Among these, 1,822 bills passed the subcommittee stage, accounting for 37.1% overall. The subcommittee was established in 1988 with the purpose of increasing efficiency by dividing committee work based on expertise, playing a role in adjusting the detailed contents of bills between ruling and opposition party members before standing committee discussions.

Among the 27 subcommittees, the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee had the lowest bill passage rate. The Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee, which belongs to the Planning and Finance Committee, handles economic bills related to budget and finance. Over the course of a year, 69 bills were reviewed by the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee, but only 5 passed, recording a passage rate of 7.2%. This means that various budget and finance bills did not even make it to the standing committee.

The bill passage rate of the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee is overwhelmingly lower than that of other subcommittees. The second lowest passage rate was 17.4% for the Education Committee’s Bill Review Subcommittee, and compared to the Political Affairs Committee’s 1st Bill Review Subcommittee (26.1%), there is about a fourfold difference. Even these subcommittees had a large number of bills to review, with 339 bills for the Education Subcommittee and 299 bills for the Political Affairs Subcommittee. The Administrative Safety Committee’s subcommittee, which experienced severe conflicts due to the Itaewon tragedy and the impeachment of Minister Lee Sang-min of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, had a bill passage rate of 26.9%.

Fiscal Rules Stalled for Months... Opposition Demands Social Economy Act

As the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee holds things up, urgent economic bills are drifting without passage. A representative policy is the fiscal rules. The government recently finalized a policy stance that, considering the rapid increase in debt as well as aging and low birthrate situations, future fiscal capacity must be strengthened. Accordingly, it plans to legislate rules that set and manage total fiscal operation limits, but the bill has not passed the National Assembly subcommittee for months.

The unusually slow pace of the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee is due to the opposition party’s strategy to push through their long-standing bills. The Democratic Party of Korea has proposed to handle the fiscal rules legislation together with the ‘Basic Act on Social Economy (Sagyungbeop).’ The Sagyungbeop includes provisions to support social enterprises, village enterprises, consumer cooperatives, and to lease national and public land and state-owned properties. The People Power Party opposes it, calling it the so-called ‘Movement Support Act.’

The Ministry of Economy and Finance is appealing that the legislation of fiscal rules must be passed. The day before, it even issued an unannounced press release to engage in a public opinion campaign. The ministry warned, “If fiscal rules are not introduced, national debt per working-age person is expected to reach 10 million won by 2040,” and “Due to the accumulation of national debt, interest payments that future generations must pay annually could increase more than threefold by 2060.”

Nevertheless, it seems difficult for the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee meeting held that day to pass contentious bills including the fiscal rules. Both ruling and opposition parties agree on the broad framework of fiscal rules, but the discussion order places it last in the 40s. The first agenda item is the Sagyungbeop. If ruling and opposition members stick to their existing positions and face off strongly in the subcommittee, there may not be enough time, and the discussion of fiscal rules itself could be canceled.

An official from the Ministry of Economy and Finance said, “In the past, fiscal rules were also pushed aside by other bills and never reached discussion, ending up discarded,” and “It is regrettable that politically, bills essential to the Korean economy continue to fail to pass.”

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