A ¥7.2 trillion supplementary budget aimed at avoiding a double-dip recession cleared the Diet on Thursday, giving Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama some relief in the face of a series of money scandals and a declining approval rate.
Despite persistent grilling by the opposition over shady donations to Hatoyama's political fund management body as well as an unregistered land purchase by Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ passed the budget with relative ease thanks to its junior coalition partners as well as support from New Komeito.
The budget plan — the first to be compiled by the DPJ administration — was put together after scrapping the previous Liberal Democratic Party-led government's plans. The government hopes the spending package will lift the economy, which has been battered by deflation and the strong yen.
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