Legislator Slams Rival: 'Plays Good Guy Locally, Gutters Budget Centrally'

A legislator from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has sharply criticized a political rival, accusing him of hypocrisy for allegedly obstructing the central budget while simultaneously campaigning locally. Chen Pei-yu, a DPP legislator, targeted Wu Tsung-hsien, a candidate for magistrate in Yilan County, during a children's book event.

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He acts like a good person locally, but in the central government, he massively cuts the budget.

Chen accused Wu of portraying himself as a benevolent figure in his local constituency while his party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) allegedly stalled the central budget in the legislature for over 300 days. "He acts like a good person locally, but in the central government, he massively cuts the budget," Chen stated, urging the KMT and TPP to pass the central budget swiftly. She argued that the delay hinders the implementation of beneficial policies for children and the elderly, which require adequate funding.

Wu Tsung-hsien's campaign office vehemently denied the accusations, labeling them as smear tactics. Spokesperson Cheng Hao-wen retorted that the DPP is ignoring the executive branch's alleged failure to compile the budget in accordance with the law and its refusal to implement民生 (min sheng - people's livelihood) bills passed by the legislature. Cheng accused the DPP of deflecting blame and demonstrating ignorance of budget laws, calling their stance illogical and hypocritical.

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The executive branch does not compile the budget according to law and does not implement the people's livelihood bills passed by the Legislative Yuan.

Cheng further explained that the budget review process began after tripartite negotiations. He asserted that the primary reason for the delay was the executive branch's refusal to allocate funds according to laws passed by the legislature. Wu's campaign criticized Chen for disregarding the executive branch's alleged breach of the law and instead blaming the opposition parties for exercising their oversight role, calling such a reversal of facts regrettable.

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The reason the budget could not be reviewed was that the Executive Yuan refused to allocate funds according to the laws passed by the Legislative Yuan.