The National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee held a plenary meeting on the 25th to present this year's second supplementary budget and began the review process.
The Environment and Labor Committee discussed the supplementary budget related to the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Employment and Labor before referring it to the budget review subcommittee.
With the shift in political parties, the opposition pointed out departments that have changed from the previous administration's stance.
Rep. Lim I-ja (three-term, Gyeongsangbuk-do Sangju-si Mungyeong-si) criticized the cut of about 460 billion won to the 'non-polluting vehicle supply project,' noting that the Ministry of Environment opposed the cuts requested by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
He criticized, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration said cuts should not be made, but about 460 billion won was cut overnight," adding, "If it was an absolutely necessary budget, it should have been pushed through. Did the new administration just cut it off?" He also pointed out that increases in various environmental infrastructure projects are "more than 30 billion won in populism and, is it not the case that it's being distributed as a reward for Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign? The Ministry of Environment should be more vigilant."
Ruling party lawmakers requested increases in budgets for responding to workers' heat-related illnesses and for accident prevention services.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has increased a total of 1.5837 trillion won for 11 projects in this supplementary budget. This includes ▲ unemployment benefit budget of 1.3 trillion won ▲ consortium training for young employees at local small and medium enterprises of 10 billion won ▲ loan for settlement support for delayed wage workers of 8.1 billion won ▲ support for heat-related illness prevention equipment of 15 billion won ▲ social insurance premiums of 25.8 billion won ▲ support for maternity benefits for non-application workers in special employment of 12.8 billion won, among others.
The Ministry of Environment increased budgets for ▲ early expansion of environmental SOC of 243.7 billion won ▲ maintenance of national rivers and installation of hydraulic survey facilities of 56.8 billion won ▲ expansion of water environment SOC such as sewage treatment plants and sewage pipes of 95.4 billion won ▲ infrastructure development for national parks of 30.4 billion won ▲ expansion of waste treatment facilities of 61 billion won. Total expenditure restructuring in the air and water environment sectors reached 547.3 billion won.