For The Most Effective Budget Allocation

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who selected me to be chairman of the Special Committee on the Budget and Accounts. I feel a great responsibility, rather than honor, for having been elected as chairman of the prestigious committee which oversees the government execution of budgets overall.
In particular, we have to close the book on the 2009 budget and fund operations results and outcomes, which have been executed on an extraordinary basis in order to overcome the economic crisis.
I truly feel my shoulders getting heavier with the extra responsibility for taking care of the 2011 government budget because we have to consider such factors as fiscal health and, at the same time, put the private economy on a sound track.
This would apply to the entire National Assembly, but our committee most of all should try to gain the love and trust of the people first. We have to complete the deliberation of the proposed national budget on time as stipulated in the National Treasury Law by removing various conflicts among legislators on different sides of the aisle, which have been stalling the parliamentary passage of the budgets.
We have to set a new tradition of deliberation of the government budgets in a clear and rational manner, precluding any form of criticisms on budget deliberations by tagging it as superficial and the product of secret deals.
As chairman, I want to be impartial and above partisan wrangling and see budget deliberations take place in normal and legal manners, paying close attention to what the people want out of the budget to make it a truly national one.
Since the outbreak of the global economic crisis ignited by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the United States in 2008, the government ploughed 10 trillion won in the revised supplementary budget to perk up the sagging economy for the first time in its history, along with the super-supplementary budget amounting to 28.4 trillion won, bringing with it surprising results envied by some foreign governments.
Fortunately, the closure of the book on the 2009 national budget execution showed that the fiscal policy results were not as bad as expected at first in terms of state debts and the health of the state treasury.
However, the drastic increase in the state treasury expenditure, even before the fiscal shock from the IMF crisis, is surely burdensome to the nation’s finances, while potential dangers lurk in such areas as state-run enterprise debts, the need for pensions for the elderly, and the financial needs for national reunification, among others.
In this sense, unless there are unforeseen changes, the budget for next year should be carefully controlled through tax breaks and cuts in spending, while the funds for people’s livelihood and economic growth should be cautiously managed to ensure a soft landing through the proper and effective allocation of budgets.
In order for the distribution of welfare funds to be handled most effectively so that they will end up in the hands of the truly needy, they must set up a well-run social welfare check delivery system and we plan to follow up on the matter when we examine the details of the budget for next year.
In particular, the National Assembly failed to pass the national budget on time for the past seven years as stipulated in Article 54 of the National Constitution Law. The budget for 2010 barely met the deadline for parliamentary approval due to arguments between the ruling and opposition parties in the parliament.
As chairman, I will make sure that the committee will examine the budget for 2011 in time this year, taking into account various opinions from both sides of the aisle, but I see some problems, as the committee has only 20 days to check the proposed budget due to other important schedules including the parliamentary inspection of the government.
The shortened deliberation period is a practice undeniably left over from the Yushin Constitution Law legislated under the Park Chung-hee regime to weaken the legislative branch’s power, and the period is too short compared to those in advanced countries.
As chairman of the committee, I proposed a bill to amend the National Treasury Law to extend the government budget submission period to 120 days before the start of the new fiscal year from the current 90 days to allow the parliament an additional 30 days to examine the budget. nw

By Rep. Lee Ju-young, Chairman of the Special Committee on the Budget and Accounts of the National Assembly