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According to the media reports, The Budget Committee of the House of Representatives is deliberating the Fiscal 2022 budget bill at an unusually fast pace.
The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a central public hearing on the 15th, which is a prerequisite for a vote, making it possible for the bill to pass the lower house on the 18th, the fastest day after the war.
This seems to be partly due to the stance of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has not made any major mistakes and has not given the opposition an opening to attack.
In the current Diet session, which convened on January 17, the government did not submit any supplementary budget bills or other proposals to be discussed prior to the fiscal year 2022 budget bill.
As a result, the actual deliberation of the budget bill for the next fiscal year at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, which usually starts in February every year, was moved up to January 24 this year.
The deliberations have reached a total of 55 hours by February 8, and the 70-hour mark, the standard for a vote, is in sight.
The ruling and opposition parties will deliberate for a total of six hours on February 9 and 10, and then hold a seven-hour intensive deliberation session with the prime minister in attendance within the next week.
If the budget is passed by the House of Representatives on February 18, it will not only surpass the previous fastest post-war date of February 19, 1999, but will also tie for the seventh-longest deliberation period in history (33 days).
The fact that the deliberations proceeded without any confusion was due in part to the Prime Minister's stance in replying to the questions.
Compared with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who made clear arguments and drew the opposition's ire, Prime Minister Kishida has repeatedly given answers at his own pace, without much intonation.
This has led to the opposition parties having no clue how to attack Prime Minister Kishida.
Since the beginning of the year, Prime Minister Kishida has made notable policy changes on issues that were initially seen as cautious, such as recommending that the gold mine on Sado Island (Niigata Prefecture) be registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site ,and announcing a target of "100,000 doses per day" for the third dose of the new coronavirus vaccine.
This also led to a loss of material for the opposition parties to pursue.
However, on the other hand, it is also true that the government has been faced with some uncertainties, such as the achievement of the inoculation target.
If a new scandal is uncovered, the operation of the Diet could change drastically.
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