The ruling bloc -- the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito -- rammed a supplementary budget through the Lower House on Friday after the opposition camp boycotted deliberations in protest of health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa.
![Empty opposition seats during the Lower House committee vote on the fiscal 2006 extra budget](../images/photos2007/nn20070203a1a.jpg)
The vote came as female opposition lawmakers took to the streets calling for the dismissal of the minister, who referred to women as "child-bearing machines" in a speech to the local party faithful in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, on Jan. 27.