DAB aims to limit pan-democrats' budget filibustering
Pro-government legislators on Wednesday came up with a strategy to cut short a filibuster launched by radical pan-democrats aiming to obstruct the passage of the Budget bill.
Tam Yiu-chung, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said marathon meetings could be avoided if the debates on some of the 751 amendments to the bill were merged.
Tam also suggested that Legislative Council president Tsang Yok-sing call a halt to delaying tactics by citing rules of procedures – as he did last year to filibustering over by-election rules.
Tam was speaking after pro-government legislators met on Wednesday afternoon to discuss ways to tackle the filibuster.
The filibuster amendments were filed by four radical pan-democrats who want the budget to include a plan to set up a universal pension scheme.
Legislators will discuss the budget bill and the amendments next Wednesday.
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said the government would run out of cash by the end of next month if the debate dragged on past then without the budget bill being passed.
Tam said he would speak to Tsang, who is also a DAB member, about adopting the DAB's suggestions.
“We hope the president can combine the debates as much as possible so as to avoid wasting our time,” he said.
