EDITORIAL: Kan faces twisted Diet

The Upper House election is now over and the administration headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has been in office for just five weeks, is getting down to business.

Due to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's defeat in Sunday's election, the Upper House is controlled by the opposition camp. The situation is likely to create huge obstacles for the government as it urgently needs to tackle numerous policy issues.

Given the circumstances, it would be foolhardy of the administration to go after them all at once. It must narrow down the list and concentrate on selected challenges. To win support for policy proposals from both the public and the opposition camp, which controls the Upper House, the government will need passion and dexterity to present persuasive arguments. That will require tenacity.

The immediate key task facing the Kan administration is compilation of the state budget for the next fiscal year. The process begins in earnest this month.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the wobbly world economy are putting pressure on the Japanese government to fix its structural fiscal problems. It needs to tackle the serious revenue shortage, swelling social security spending and gargantuan public debt.

An opposition-controlled Upper House cannot block passage of the budget bill approved by the Lower House. Under the Constitution, unlike an ordinary bill, the budget bill endorsed by the Lower House will be enacted even if the upper chamber rejects it.

Even so, a fierce confrontation between the ruling and opposition camps over the budget, which serves as the foundation for government policy efforts, could prevent all other important bills from becoming law.

The government needs to work on the budget plan with hard-headed pragmatism and give pause to the possibility it may have to hold negotiations with the opposition camp over modifying the bill during next year's regular Diet session.

In connection with the budget, Kan will need to make major revisions to the DPJ's election manifesto, as Sadakazu Tanigaki, head of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, has pointed out.

The ruling party's manifesto includes costly proposals, such as child allowances, toll-free highways and indemnity for farmers' income deficits. To fully implement these programs, the government would have to secure a new permanent revenue source worth trillions of yen for each. That would not be possible under the current fiscal conditions.

In June, the government started providing 13,000 yen ($147) per child in a monthly child allowance. Continuing this program beyond this fiscal year would cost the government 2.7 trillion yen annually and require new legislation to secure the revenue.

The DPJ has already abandoned its plan to raise the monthly amount to 26,000 yen as it had promised. The party has said it will use the money saved to improve childcare services, such as building daycare centers.

There are also calls for a review of the scope of families eligible for the cash benefits and restrictions on how the money can be used.

The government should not hesitate to modify its policies. To appease the public and the opposition parties, it must offer clear and convincing explanations about any changes it makes. This will sorely test the government's ability to make the right choices and win over opponents and skeptics.

The twisted Diet should not be allowed to become an arena for fruitless power games again.

The government should avoid self-righteousness, while the opposition should refrain from finding fault with the government simply to gain political points. Both sides should fairly assess the arguments made by the other side and respond to them with sincerity.

A productive political environment is vital for the success of nonpartisan debates on the issue of an increase in the consumption tax rate that Kan has suggested.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 13