TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The legislature’s Procedure Committee did not vote on government budget bills on Tuesday (Oct. 1), meaning the bills will go before the legislature when it meets on Friday (Oct. 4).

Kuomintang (KMT) caucus leader Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) said his party decided it was unnecessary to vote on the bills in the committee, per CNA. Lin said this is because Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has scheduled a government opposition meeting to resolve the budget deadlock within the coming days, and the Cabinet still has the opportunity to amend certain items.

Because the Procedure Committee did not hold a vote on the bills, all legislators will have an opportunity to vote on them at a general meeting of the legislature on Friday. The KMT’s deputy caucus leader Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) said if the Cabinet does not make the changes asked for by Friday, the party will likely vote down the budget again.

In September, the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) blocked the budget bills twice during Procedure Committee votes. The opposition parties cited inadequate funding for certain items for which their legislators had increased spending via legislation earlier in the year.

While the KMT said the decision not to vote on the bills was a gesture of goodwill, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) criticized the move. He said that if opposition parties oppose certain items they should debate them and give clear recommendations for change.

Chuang also said that the budget includes funding for disaster management, and accused the opposition parties of putting political interests before those of the people as Typhoon Krathon approaches.