The proposed extension of the current Diet session will likely be limited to early August, as key government and Liberal Democratic Party leaders on Tuesday expressed their resolve to work quickly on urgent spending matters.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told reporters at his official residence that the Diet extension should be kept to the "necessary minimum." It was initially proposed that the session be extended through early September.
Obuchi and Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa will hold a meeting this afternoon to discuss the length of the extension and pending bills.
The 150-day regular Diet session was originally scheduled to end Thursday. On Monday, the government and ruling LDP decided to seek an extension of up to 85 days to pass a supplementary budget and bills containing measures to boost corporate competitiveness. That would have brought it into early September.
However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka on Tuesday told a regular news conference that the government may seek a shorter extension if bills on industrial competitiveness can be drawn up quickly.
"Some people say that if work on the bills is conducted swiftly, it would be possible to end the deliberations in early August," he said.
A top government source said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has already expedited its effort to compile necessary legislation.
Meanwhile, policy affairs chiefs of the LDP and Liberal Party agreed that the planned supplementary budget to be submitted to the Diet next month should focus on job-creation measures and incentives to encourage couples to have more children.