Extraordinary Diet Session Kicks Off; Opposition Parties Call for Clarification on Japan-U.S. Tariff Agreement
It is the first Diet session since last month's House of Councillors election, where the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lost its majority in the upper house, having already done so in the House of Representatives last year.
Elections for the upper house's president and vice president were held. As is custom, the president was picked from the largest member party, and the vice president was picked from the largest opposition party.
LDP lawmaker Masakazu Sekiguchi was reappointed as upper house president at the plenary session on Friday and Tetsuro Fukuyama from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was elected vice president. The session will last for five days until Tuesday.
This post-election session is normally limited to such formalities as the house presidential and vice presidential elections. At a request from opposition parties, however, discussions on the Japan-U.S. tariff agreement will be held during the current session at the budget committees of the lower house on Monday and of the upper house on Tuesday.
At the committees, Ishiba and economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa will explain the details of the agreement and the course of the negotiations.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday at a press conference, 'We will thoroughly explain our policies including on the Japan-U.S. tariff agreement and respond sincerely to the Diet deliberations.'
Bill on gasoline tax submitted
Seven opposition parties jointly submitted a bill to the lower house Friday to scrap the provisional add-on gasoline tax rate.
The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to abolish the tax rate within this year and plan to pass the bill at the extraordinary session scheduled for autumn, instead of voting on it at the current session.
Under the terms of the bill, the add-on gasoline tax rate of ¥25.1 per liter would be abolished from Nov. 1.
The seven parties that submitted the bill were the CDPJ, the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party, Sanseito, the Conservative Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party.
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