The Lower House Budget Committee voted Friday to hold hearings on the record 84.98 trillion yen state budget for fiscal 2000 on Thursday, paving the way for its passage through the lower chamber by the end of the month. Despite the opposition's call for more deliberation, the Budget Committee approved the ruling camp's proposal to schedule the public hearings. By law, the committee must convene hearings to hear private-sector experts' views on the budget before putting it to a committee vote, before the budget can be voted on in a plenary session of the house. Makoto Koga, Diet affairs committee chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, told party executives Thursday that he hopes the bill clears the Lower House on Feb. 28, according to LDP Secretary General Yoshiro Mori. The budget, which reflects a 3.8 percent growth from the initial budget draft for the current fiscal year, is to be funded by deficit-covering government bonds worth 23.46 trillion yen, which will push the nation's total debts to 645 trillion yen. The ruling camp claims the budget will help Japan's recovery from its long-lasting economic slump. The three opposition parties -- the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party -- demanded that the public hearings extend for at least two days. The opposition camp also asked that Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi attend the budget committee to explain the allegations that his secretary illegally obtained unlisted shares of NTT DoCoMo, a mobile phone firm. Obuchi told reporters at his official residence that he will dissolve the Lower House or the entire Cabinet will resign if the budget, the "most important" bill, fails to win approval in the Diet. "I'm still not relieved. I'll do my best," Obuchi said.
