LDP Gives Up FY 2026 Budget Passage This Week

Tokyo, April 1 (Jiji Press)--Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday decided to give up on enacting the government's fiscal 2026 budget bill this week.

Senior members of the LDP and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed to hold a general question-and-answer session on the bill in Friday's meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, effectively putting a vote off until next week.

The CDP conveyed to the LDP side that holding an intensive deliberation session attended by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is a precondition for agreeing to put the bill to a vote.

Yoshihiko Isozaki, the LDP's Diet affairs chief in the Upper House, asked his CDP counterpart, Yoshitaka Saito, to cooperate for the bill's enactment as early as possible.

Saito demanded intensive deliberations attended by Takaichi, saying, "Unless the prime minister attends the Upper House Budget Committee, there is absolutely no possibility of proceeding to a vote on the budget bill." Isozaki said he would take the matter back to his party for further consideration.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]