KMT to demand Presidential Office purchase more mooncakes from disadvantaged groups
By Lin Hsin-han,Lin Che-yuanand Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus would demand the Presidential Office next year buy extra mooncakes from disadvantaged groups after the KMT failed to exempt payments for such products amid budget constraints imposed by the opposition, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi said yesterday.
Fu apologized on behalf of the KMT caucus for failing to exclude purchases from sheltered workshops and disadvantaged groups from the cuts and freezes of the Presidential Office discretionary spending budget this year and called on the office to spend more on the products next year to compensate groups that missed out on income.
The Legislative Yuan last month approved proposals by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) to slash presidential discretionary funds, resulting in the Presidential Office canceling 15,000 orders.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi, center, bows with other KMT officials in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
Fu yesterday said that the action did not preclude spending to support social welfare.
“We offer our profound apologies and wish to use this opportunity to state that we are demanding that the central government’s general budget and the Presidential Office’s discretionary budget next year allot funds to purchase three times as many festive goods from such groups,” he said.
The budget cuts stemmed from Premier Cho Jung-tai’s (卓榮泰) refusal to countersign the Fiscal Revenues and Expenditures Allocation Act (財政收支劃分法) and President William Lai’s (賴清德) refusal to promulgate the law, he said.
The government, with a budget of NT$3 trillion (US$94.84 billion), the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s NT$300 billion budget and NT$8 billion in Executive Yuan reserve funds should have been able to cover purchases that boost social welfare, he said.
The non-spending was disturbing to the public, he added.
The KMT caucus would place orders to cover those that were abandoned by the Presidential Office, as well as buying mooncakes that are not sold, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) later yesterday said that the use of national funds should not be spent like people haggling at a market.
The Presidential Office and DPP lawmakers have repeatedly said that the Presidential Discretionary Fund included money to purchase mooncakes and other goods from disadvantaged groups, but the KMT ignored them, Chuang said.
The KMT should be more thorough in its budget review, saving it the need to apologize later, he said, adding that disadvantaged groups should not have to suffer because of political disputes.
The KMT’s demand that the Presidential Office purchase three times as many mooncakes next year is another case of legislative overreach, he said.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that the apology and offer to buy mooncakes was a good show, but lacked sincerity, as Weng was not involved.
The KMT should not accuse the Presidential Office of abandoning orders when it caused the issue, Kuo said.
The Presidential Office had fully explained the state affairs fund during the budget review, she said, adding that hopefully there would be a return to rationality in the legislature when it sets national budgets.
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