EDITORIAL: New legislature, same tired tactics

When Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) reported on the government’s six priority policy directions to the legislature during its opening session on Tuesday last week, he was not addressing a full house. All of the opposition lawmakers were absent during Cho’s 20-minute report, setting the tone for yet another executive-legislative standoff. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators only entered the chambers to vote down all 27 Control Yuan candidates nominated by President William Lai (賴清德).

The KMT caucus said its members’ absence was an act of “silent protest” against Cho, as he had refused to countersign several bills passed by the legislature. The TPP caucus said its members were elsewhere because Cho’s report was all fluff with no substance.

Meanwhile, the KMT caucus announced its priority legislation for the new session, including a bill to increase the government’s planned NT$10,000 per person cash handout to NT$20,000, amending the Criminal Code to allow caning as a punishment for certain crimes, and an amendment allowing national referendums to overturn Constitutional Court judgements and ban the Central Election Commission from reviewing or overruling referendum proposals initiated by the Legislative Yuan. They also include some bills that would significantly increase government spending, while benefiting only certain groups, such as making National Health Insurance free for elderly people.

In the four days since the new legislative session opened, the KMT caucus has made it clear that it would continue to be at odds with the Executive Yuan, pushing controversial bills and shelling out public funds to please voters.

While these standoffs give opposition lawmakers a sense of power and the impression that they can punish or retaliate against the Democratic Progressive Party, it is only short-lived, at the expense of national development and public welfare and interests, including those of the KMT’s and TPP’s supporters.

In the past two years, opposition lawmakers have been pushing to expand legislative power, but have failed as most of their bills were ruled unconstitutional. In an attempt to circumvent the judicial system, the opposition lawmakers crippled the Constitutional Court by raising the quorum for passing judgements and blocking nominees to fill court vacancies on the bench.

Allied KMT and TPP lawmakers also arbitrarily passed controversial bills that the Executive Yuan deemed unconstitutional and blamed Cho for not countersigning them, sometimes going as far as to threaten the Cabinet by stalling the review of the national budget.

The controversial bills sought to increase central government spending to benefit certain groups, which the Executive Yuan countered, citing Article 70 of the Constitution, which states that “the Legislative Yuan shall not make proposals for an increase in the expenditures in the budgetary bill presented by the Executive Yuan,” and with constitutional interpretations.

In 2024, the legislature forced the government to increase compensation to indigenous groups related to a logging ban. Last year, lawmakers stalled the review of the budget for a record-breaking 266 days, citing the government’s refusal to increase retirement income for police officers and firefighters. They also pushed the Executive Yuan to issue a nationwide NT$10,000 cash handout last year.

Bolstered by its previous success in pushing the central government to shell out public funding, the opposition-controlled legislature on Friday passed the first reading of the KMT caucus’ proposal of a NT$20,000 cash handout. It referred the bill to a committee for review, despite the Executive Yuan’s concern that it would raise national debt and crowd out funding for social welfare and major long-term policies.

However, the key point of contention between the ruling and opposition parties remains unaddressed. The KMT lawmakers are still eagerly trying to assert more power, encroaching upon executive authority by proposing bills to increase government spending and trampling on the Constitution with the amendment that would allow referendums to overturn Constitutional Court judgements. The opposition lawmakers’ rejection of all 27 Control Yuan candidates is also part of a greater plan to make legislative power overrule all other branches of government.

Disabling the Constitutional Court and the Control Yuan and hindering the Executive Yuan’s ability to execute its budget and policy might seem like victories to the opposition parties, so they are continuing this tactic in the new session. However, people are becoming tired of lawmakers habitually sabotaging the constitutional system. Opinion polls showed that trust in Lai has been growing, while trust levels for the KMT and TPP have been steadily dropping.