Diet Session Ends in Substance as Upper House Skips Vote on Gas Tax Bill

   Tokyo, June 21 (Jiji Press)--This year's ordinary session of the Diet ended in substance on Saturday, before its official close on Sunday, after the House of Councillors forwent a vote on an opposition-sponsored bill to abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate.
   On Saturday, the Upper House Committee on Financial Affairs met to discuss the bill, but the meeting ended without a vote. Opposition parties then submitted a motion to dismiss Shingo Miyake of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as chairman of the committee.
   However, the Rules and Administration Committee of the Upper House decided not to put the motion to a full Upper House vote.
   Ahead of the Upper House election next month, the opposition camp demanded a full Upper House vote on the gasoline tax bill within Saturday, but the LDP-Komeito coalition rejected the demand. The ruling bloc holds a majority in the chamber.
   Junichi Ishii, the LDP's parliamentary affairs chief in the Upper House, told Yoshitaka Saito, his counterpart from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at their meeting on the day that the bill does not deserve a vote.

(2025/06/21-18:12)

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