Legislative Yuan to Extend Session until January 21 to Pass Budget Bill.

Taipei: The Legislative Yuan has announced that it will extend its current session until January 21, 2025. This extension is aimed at allowing lawmakers to pass a delayed budget bill along with other contested pieces of legislation, as confirmed by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu on Wednesday. According to Focus Taiwan, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan typically convenes twice a year, from February to May and again from September to December, with provisions to extend sessions if deemed necessary. Since the start of the current session on September 20, opposition lawmakers from the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) have persistently obstructed the Cabinet's significant NT$3.33 trillion (US$104.2 billion) budget proposal. The contention arose from the opposition's stance that the budget failed to incorporate funding for legislative amendments made earlier this year, prompting demands for a revised submission from the Cabinet. On November 7, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party reached a compromise with the opposition's demands. This development followed a critical meeting between Cabinet officials, led by Premier Cho Jung-tai, and legislative leaders from the KMT and TPP.