Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, and his Cabinet members stand in the Diet immediately after the government’s draft budget for fiscal 2022 is passed by the Lower House on Feb. 22. (Koichi Ueda)

The Lower House approved a record 107.6 trillion yen ($936.74 billion) draft budget for fiscal 2022 on Feb. 22 that had the backing of an opposition party, which has not been seen in more than 40 years. 

Along with support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, the budget was backed by the Democratic Party for the People. 

It is very rare for an opposition party to support the government’s initial draft budget, which is a pillar for the ruling parties to operate the government.

The fiscal 2022 draft budget features record spending on defense as well as social security, which is driven by the nation's aging society. It also sets aside 5 trillion yen as a reserve to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, the same amount as in fiscal 2021.

The DPP's support for the draft budget is aimed at promoting its unique philosophy, which is “to become an opposition party that isn’t a traditional one but one that helps implement government policies,” according to its senior official.

In discussing the party's support for the draft budget, Yuichiro Tamaki, DPP leader, spoke of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's willingness to activate a "trigger clause" in an existing tax law.

The clause is designed to temporarily cut gasoline taxes by around 25 yen per liter in the event of a surging rise in gasoline prices, which is now occurring. 

“Prime Minister Kishida vowed to consider cutting gasoline prices, which laid a clear path to making it happen,” Tamaki said. 

The DPP's manifesto in the Lower House election in October 2021 included a promise to activate the trigger clause in the event of surging gasoline prices. 

The last time a major opposition party supported an initial draft budget was in 1978 by the New Liberal Club. The breakaway party from the LDP had done the same in 1977, along with the Democratic Socialist Party, another opposition party.

However, other opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan voiced displeasure with the DPP's support, saying that it is not how an opposition party should operate.

Kentaro Genma, a Lower House member of the CDP, expressed opposition to the budget in the Diet.

On the Kishida administration’s anti-COVID-19 measures, Genma said, “The slow response due to the delay in decision-making is a human-made disaster.”

Lower House members of the Japan Innovation Party and the Japanese Communist Party also expressed their opposition to the draft budget.

The Constitution stipulates that the draft budget is automatically enacted if the Upper House doesn’t approve it within 30 days upon receiving it. Therefore, it is guaranteed that it will be enacted by March 23, before the end of fiscal 2021.

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