
At LDP's post-election meeting, calls intensify for Ishiba's resignation
'I'd like him to say he is leaving as soon as possible, though it doesn't need to be now,' Lower House lawmaker Hiroyuki Nakamura told reporters as he left the party headquarters 45 minutes into the meeting.
'Party executives bear the responsibility of failing to improve the party's standing,' Upper House member Yohei Wakabayashi said, adding that 80% of lawmakers who spoke in the meeting asked Ishiba to resign.
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NHK
3 hours ago
- NHK
LDP plans to hold decision-making Joint Plenary Meeting next week
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is arranging to convene a key decision-making meeting as early as late next week. The move comes as Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, who heads the party, faces pressure to step down to take responsibility for the LDP's losses in the recent Upper House election. On Tuesday, Ishiba and other LDP executives decided to hold the Joint Plenary Meeting of both houses of the Diet. The decision was made amid moves to increase pressure on Ishiba to step down through the Joint Plenary Meeting. During a meeting of party lawmakers on Monday, it was reportedly suggested that the Joint Plenary cannot terminate the position of LDP president. Some within the party say similar arguments will be repeated if the Joint Plenary Meeting is held. The agenda is still to be determined. Ishiba has said he intends to explain himself carefully and sincerely without running away. He is expected to seek understanding to remain in office, citing the need to avoid a political vacuum. But the secretary-general of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Ogawa Junya, says Ishiba's insistence on staying in office is itself creating a major political vacuum. Describing Ishiba as a bad loser, Ogawa said he is seriously concerned that there will be various disruptions, including to policies, which will ultimately affect the public. Regarding a no-confidence motion, Ogawa only said the matter will be decided comprehensively in a timely and appropriate manner.

Japan Times
10 hours ago
- Japan Times
Early 2026 U.S. midterm ads focus on Medicaid access and Trump tax cuts
Residents of Columbus, Indiana awoke last week to a yellow billboard purchased by the Democratic National Committee blaring: "Under Trump's Watch, Columbus Regional Health is Cutting Medical Services." Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee, which oversees races for the U.S. House of Representatives, this month launched a digital ad campaign touting U.S. President Donald Trump's tax cuts and blaming Democrats for spiking inflation. As members of Congress return to their home districts for the August recess, the Democratic and Republican parties are launching ad blitzes centered around the tax-cut and spending bill Trump signed into law on July 4, in an unofficial start to the 2026 midterm election campaign. Democrats are focusing their message around access to health care, three party operatives and three officials from allied groups said. Republicans are countering that the tax provisions will put more money in voters' pockets — particularly wage workers and seniors, four party operatives said. The bill makes permanent Trump's 2017 tax cuts and funds his immigration enforcement crackdown, while reducing health care and food aid. It devotes $170 billion to immigration enforcement while cutting $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and other public health programs and $186 billion in food assistance. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 10 million people would lose their health insurance by 2034 as a result of the bill, and that the tax provisions and increased immigration and military spending would increase the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion over the next decade. "How voters feel about Trump and the economy may be the most important factor next fall — but so is how voters feel about the Republican response to their concern," said Jacob Rubashkin, a nonpartisan analyst with Inside Elections. Republican strategists concede that Democrats, who campaigned against the bill while it was working its way through the Republican-controlled House and Senate, are starting with an upper hand in messaging around the legislation. But they say they have plenty of time to sell the bill's benefits. "We will use every tool to show voters that the provisions in this bill are widely popular,' said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the NRCC. And the party has a cash advantage. The RNC had $81 million in cash at the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission data, compared to the DNC's $15 million during the same period. The DNC has trailed the RNC in fundraising in the first half of the year at the same time as it has deepened its financial commitments, spending in every state, FEC disclosures show. The RNC also enjoys a huge asset in a sitting president who is still holding fundraisers for big-ticket donors. "At the end of the day, Democrats got a jump start on messaging,' said a Republican Senate operative who asked to remain anonymous to discuss party strategy. "They have won the battle. Now we have to focus on winning the war.' Republicans can only afford a net loss of two of the 220 seats they hold in the House to maintain control. In the Senate, they have a 53-47 advantage. 'Critical opportunity' The messaging battle, largely focused on battleground states and districts, is key to defining the bill in the minds of voters. "The bill is currently unpopular, and there's been a lot of conversation among Republicans about how to refocus on the more popular aspects and use the upcoming recess to sell the bill to skeptical voters,' Rubashkin said. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted last month as the bill was moving through Congress, some 64% of registered voters oppose cuts to Medicaid and food stamps in return for lower taxes for everyone. Democrats are seizing on that sentiment, pushing the idea that Republicans have taken away health care to pay for tax giveaways for billionaires. The DNC has purchased billboards in a handful of Republican districts facing reduced services and shutdown of rural hospitals and health facilities. "Republicans threw working families under the bus to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, and we'll never let them — or voters — forget that,' said DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman in a statement to Reuters. "This will define the midterms.' Republicans say the bill's provisions on tips, overtime and Social Security show the party is focused on issues affecting working families. They also point to a $50 billion fund the bill establishes to help rural hospitals. In a memo earlier this month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee encouraged candidates to talk about the bill in personalized terms, highlighting "service industry workers who will keep more of their hard-earned tips,' "first responders and critical workers who will keep more of their overtime pay' and "working parents and caretakers who benefit from increased tax credits for child and dependent care.' Another Republican strategy memo prepared by Tony Fabrizio and David Lee, Trump's pollsters, urges candidates to "lead on kitchen-table issues." The memo was commissioned by One Nation, a super PAC that last week launched a $10-million-plus TV and digital ad blitz playing up the tax features of the bill. The ads will air in states like Georgia and Texas where Republicans are defending seats. Another Republican PAC, Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group founded by Charles Koch and the late David Koch, will launch a TV and digital ad campaign in key districts next month, said Bill Riggs, a spokesperson for AFP. And the American Action Network is running TV and digital ads in 29 battleground congressional districts in Arizona, California, New York and Pennsylvania, emphasizing tax cuts and border security. "It's a new America, full of hope, thanks to President Trump and House Republicans," the ad intones. 'Trump tax' Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to tie Medicaid cuts to reduced health care access and higher costs. The DNC's website claims that the bill will "cost the poorest 10% of households $1,600 a year while raising the income of the richest 10% of Americans by $12,000 a year." Unrig Our Economy, a left-leaning outside group focused on populist economic messaging, is running ads in Iowa, Arizona and Pennsylvania depicting voters voicing frustration at their Republican lawmakers for voting for Trump's bill. "I'm so angry that Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks just voted for the largest cut to Medicaid in history to give tax breaks to billionaires,' said one ad running in Iowa, featuring a Davenport resident identified as Maria. The group plans to spend $7 million by the end of the year, according to spokesperson Kobie Christian. On Monday the group launched a "multi-million dollar' ad campaign focused on the Medicaid cuts in four Texas congressional districts. Protect Our Care, a left-leaning health care advocacy organization, said it plans to spend up to $10 million on ads in the first half of next year, largely focused on urging Republican lawmakers to restore funding to Medicaid. "Republicans won't be able to spin their way out of their parents being kicked out of a nursing home,' said Brad Woodhouse, the group's executive director. Environmental groups are also targeting the bill's rollback of clean energy incentives. Climate Power and the League of Conservation Voters spent $500,000 on an ad pressuring lawmakers in six congressional districts to vote against the bill, claiming that it will increase electricity rates, according to League of Conservation Voters President Pete Maysmith. "The bill just happened, so let's start communicating with people when it's fresh and happening,' said Maysmith. "We don't want to show up later and try to pick up that conversation.'


NHK
10 hours ago
- NHK
LDP executives to hold decision-making Joint Plenary Meeting soon
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has decided to convene a key decision-making meeting soon. The move comes as Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, who heads the party, faces pressure to take responsibility for the LDP's losses in the recent Upper House election. Ishiba and other LDP executives decided on Tuesday to hold the Joint Plenary Meeting of both houses of the Diet. Ishiba referred to harsh criticism of him at a meeting of party lawmakers the previous day. He said he will accept the opinions in good faith, and make appropriate decisions on the management of the party and his administration. LDP Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi later told reporters that party members have called for the Joint Plenary to be held, and such calls should be respected. The party's mid-ranked and young lawmakers have been collecting signatures to seek the Joint Plenary. Moriyama said it is possible to convene the meeting without going through such procedures. Moriyama said the Chair of the Joint Plenary will listen to the opinions of the lawmakers who have been calling for the meeting. Asked if the Joint Plenary could decide to bring forward the date of the party's presidential election, Moriyama said the issue is extremely complicated. He suggested that the party's presidential election management committee would be involved in the issue.