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 What Should be Discussed with Regard to Expansion? |
| To definitively examine each point of the expansions suggested above, the points as follows are made. (1)Impact of Budget Limitations The budget has limitations. The Japanese economy has been stagnant since the "bubble" economy burst. Even if the legislative assistant functions were to be expanded by increasing taxes, it would be difficult to gain public acceptance. What is the best way to deal with the massive deficit? The government established the Fiscal Structure Reform Law with a medium-range goal. But it was forced to put it on hold because of the higher priority given to economic recovery policies and strategies at the strong demand of the people. Therefore, it is impossible to allocate any public funds to a purpose other than the economic recovery. In short, what is important is to somehow make the public understand the importance of investing in strong political leadership. (2)The Size of Diet In order to make people understand the necessity for increasing the budget for expansion of the Diet's policy making staff, even under the current severe budget limitations, we must forthrightly deal with the size of the Diet (i.e., the total number of representatives). Technically, there are two alternatives: one is to increase the policy making staff while keeping the same number of representatives and the other is to reduce the total number of Diet members and increase the size of the policy making staff for each Member. However, in reality, while it would be almost impossible, under current fiscal constraints at least, to expand the legislative staff and keep the present size of Diet, it might be possible to achieve this as a medium- to- long-range objective. Therefore, it is imperative to reduce the number of Members. There have been calls for such cuts for a long time, and in principle, few people have registered opposition. In practice, however, the process has not been smooth nor has it been without controversy. In fact, it has made very little progress. This is understandable because any changes will directly affect Members' seats in the Diet. The major sticking points include, among others, seat allocations between the two Houses, revisions to the current electoral system, which consists of small constituency districts and proportion-based constituency districts and which districts are to be eliminated or merged. Since the end of last year, an unexpected movement has been stirred up by the Liberal Democratic Party and Liberal Party coalition in an effort to cut the size of the Diet. The coalition's current plan aims at a cut of fifty seats in the House of Representatives in the second tier of its electoral system, that is, the proportional representation tier. This is the first serious attempt at a reduction in the size of the Diet by any political party. But is the scale of the cut large enough to convince the public that the Diet's intentions are serious? Or, can the Members and/or the public agree on a plan to cut the number of seats only in the House of Representatives and only in one component? Any solutions proposed affect the loss or retention of current incumbent seats. No simple resolutions of the matter are expected any time soon. (3)Perceptions of Problems by Diet Members Public criticism can be expected. Compared to the United States and other countries, the present assistance structure is incomplete. Do current Diet Members fully understand the existing system? Do they use it effectively? Why expand if the current system is not fully utilized? Shouldn't the most immediate concern be how to maximize the current system? These are persuasive and important points. After all, they point to the Members who have not made full and effective use of the existing system and who have no recognition of any problems. This applies not only to the ruling party, but also to the opposition party. For the ruling party, bureaucrats have been most convenient assistants. Members can call and have them provide even the most trifling information as well as supply a wide range of materials. The bureaucrats have, so to speak, the answers. Members do not need to think and plan. So there has been no reason to call upon the legislative assistance available from Diet sources. The opposition party, which should make full use of legislative assistance, devotes itself to criticizing the government and therefore, tends to resort to nit-picking questions based mostly upon news reports. Their efforts so far to introduce alternatives and policy plans may be categorized as insufficient. It is true, as mentioned at the beginning of this report, that the attitude of Diet Members will change with a change in the political environment. Also their recognition of and the way they use legislative assistance will also change. But the question is how far and how fast. (4)Organic and Comprehensive Problems between Legislative Assistance Organizations Even if Diet Members were to change their attitude toward the legislative process and try to use the legislative assistance organizations in the Diet, it might not be accomplished smoothly because there is a lack of organic relations among legislative assistance programs and organizations. In fact, there are no close cooperative relationships and comprehensive links among the legislative assistance organizations within the Diet, which are vital to the success of legislative programs. In the Diet, there are structural barriers caused by what is known as the vertical administrative structure, which keeps lateral cooperative work nearly impossible. For example, this barrier makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to encourage teamwork among the Investigative Offices of the Committees. The House of Representatives and the House of Councilors do not work well organically. The relationships among the Investigative Offices for the Committees, the National Diet Library Survey and the Legislation Examination Bureau are not clearly defined and are less than satisfactory. It is necessary to review the relationships among the existing organizations and personnel who provide various legislative services to make them more useful and convenient to the Members who use them. (5)Revitalization Plan and Member Initiated Legislation In order to stimulate the legislative activities of Diet Members , it is no doubt necessary to improve legislative assistance services to members. At the same time, it must be recognized that to revitalize the policy planning initiatives of the Members of the Diet, it is necessary to provide the legislation as well as the environment to revitalize the Diet. In short, the expansion of legislative assistance services and the revitalization plan for the entire Diet should be carried out simultaneously and with close coordination. |
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