The size of the supplementary budget bill the government submitted to the National Assembly has grown during preliminary reviews by standing committees. Funding also increased for projects that seem far removed from the purpose of a "war supplementary budget" prepared to break through the Middle East war crisis. The People Power Party raised its criticism, saying the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing a "vote-buying supplementary budget" and "budget logrolling."
According to political circles on the 7th, as of 5 p.m. that day, nine standing committees, excluding the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee, had completed preliminary reviews of the supplementary budget bill. The bill that clears preliminary review at the standing committees goes to the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget & Accounts for deliberation.
If all the increases requested by the standing committees are reflected in the supplementary budget bill, the net increase will reach 3.418213 trillion won. The 26 trillion won supplementary budget bill the government sent to the National Assembly has swelled to nearly 30 trillion won. The Lee Jae-myung administration also executed a 31 trillion won "super supplementary budget" in July last year that included consumption coupons for livelihood recovery.
By standing committee, the increases in the supplementary budget are as follows: ▲ Agriculture. Food. Rural Affairs. Oceans. and Fisheries Committee, 973.946 billion won ▲ Climate, energy, environment and labor committee, 609.96 billion won ▲ Health and Welfare Committee, 344.588 billion won ▲ Culture. Sports. and Tourism Committee, 287.255 billion won ▲ Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee, 198.538 billion won ▲ Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee, 173.365 billion won ▲ Education Committee, 90.761 billion won. The Public Administration and Security Committee forwarded both the government's original plan and a "739.8 billion won increase plan" related to support payments for high oil price damage to the budget committee.
The People Power Party criticized the supplementary budget bill for including items unrelated to responding to the Middle East war. A prime example is the 4.95 billion won newly added operating support budget for Seoul Traffic Broadcasting (TBS), led by the Democratic Party during review at the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. However, Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae drew a line when the People Power Party criticized it as "saving politically biased broadcasting," saying, "We have no intention of pursuing it."
Other standing committees also revealed projects somewhat removed from the Middle East war crisis. At the Culture. Sports. and Tourism Committee, 20 billion won was added to the "professional sports admission support project," and 18.07 billion won to "support for introducing a movie pass." The Education Committee increased 16.4 billion won for the "support project to expand facilities such as anatomy labs at national medical schools." The Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee voted to invest 1.374 trillion won in "preparations for the 100th anniversary of broadcasting history."
The amount of increases in the supplementary budget bill is expected to grow further when combining the strategy and finance committee and industry committee. In the case of the strategy and finance committee, the ruling and opposition parties differed over the National Tax Service's 213.4 billion won supplementary budget bill that included a delinquency management unit budget, and forwarded the bill to the budget committee. The industry committee is also likely to see the supplementary budget grow during preliminary review as support measures for the solar industry are discussed.
The ruling and opposition parties also clashed over the supplementary budget during comprehensive policy questioning at the budget committee that began that day. Choi Hyeong-du of the People Power Party said, "It's making campaign pledges for the ruling party candidates running in the local elections with a slush fund for elections." In contrast, Hwang Jeong-a of the Democratic Party said, "Dismissing this supplementary budget as a 'vote-buying supplementary budget' is an irresponsible political offensive that prioritizes political strife."
However, the Blue House also appears uneasy about the National Assembly's requests for increases. The Blue House and the government have emphasized that this supplementary budget is a "debt-free supplementary budget." At a press briefing that day, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said, "If we expand it further, we may need to take on debt, so we are wary of increasing it further."