Lower House debate on budget bill, referendum law scheduled for June
An extraordinary parliamentary session has been scheduled for June 18-21 to deliberate the budget bill for fiscal 2025 and draft an amendment to the referendum law asking voters whether a new constitution should be written.
A tripartite meeting of representatives from the Cabinet, coalition parties, and opposition parties at Parliament on Friday resolved that the House of Representatives would convene on June 18 to debate the referendum law amendment and from June 19-21 to deliberate on the budget bill, chief government whip Visuth Chainaroon said.
Speaking at a press conference held after the tripartite meeting, the Pheu Thai MP said he expected a government-backed amendment to the referendum law would be tabled in time for the lower House deliberations on June 18. However, if that were not the case, separate bills proposed by the ruling Pheu Thai Party and the main opposition party Move Forward would be deliberated on instead.
The deliberations are expected to be completed by around 4pm on that day, he said.
June 19-21 has been set aside for the House debate on the budget bill for fiscal 2025, according to Visuth. On the last day, the deliberation is expected to continue until midnight, he added.
The government and opposition camps have been allocated 20 hours each to debate the budget bill while an extra hour will be set aside for the House speaker, according to the chief government whip.
The previous ordinary parliamentary session ended on April 10.
Meanwhile, MP Pakornwut Udompipatskul, the chief opposition whip from the Move Forward Party, said on Friday that MPs from his party have been preparing for the upcoming debate on the budget bill for the past month.
He said the opposition MPs would “dig deep” into the country’s budgeting system to point out which parts required improvement.
Pakornwut pointed out that budget allocations were not effective, as certain projects beneficial to the country are poorly funded while projects with little benefit get the Budget Bureau’s nod for funding.
“We [opposition MPs] will play the role of government by showing how the budget plans should have been drawn,” said the chief opposition whip.
When asked about the number of opposition MPs expected to take to the floor during the House debate on the budget bill, he said it was not clear yet. “About 50-60 people have shown interest in joining the debate,” he said.
