TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — KMT Legislator and Education and Culture Committee Acting Chair Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) on Tuesday rejected DPP accusations that he was delaying review of the 2026 budget, citing communications with a DPP committee chair as evidence.
DPP members of the committee accused Lo on Friday of delaying budget reviews for the culture ministry, the sports ministry, the National Palace Museum, and the National Science and Technology Council, per SETN. They argued that Lo had deliberately prioritized controversial bills over the 2026 budget.
DPP Legislator Saidhai Tahovecahe (伍麗華), who serves as rotating committee chair with Lo, said his decision to schedule consideration of two bills on Wednesday and Thursday appeared intended to delay budget deliberations. She said the DPP would have been willing to cooperate had the scheduling been aimed at accelerating the review process.
Tahovecahe said she agreed to allow Lo to chair the Wednesday and Thursday meetings because he had missed two committee days between May 11 and May 15 while accompanying Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on a delegation to France and the UK, per CNA.
Lo rejected the allegations, arguing that the committee did not formally receive the 2026 budget proposals from the culture ministry and sports ministry until Thursday, per NOWNews. He said the bills on the agenda, including measures concerning school lunches and student loans, were significant pieces of legislation that warranted committee consideration.
Lo said he intentionally left additional time for ministries to communicate with committee members before the review. He argued that rushing the budget through committee would prevent a thorough review of the proposal.
Lo also released a message from Tahovecahe, saying she had apologized to him on Friday. According to Lo, Tahovecahe wrote that the mutual understanding between their offices regarding the Wednesday and Thursday agendas was being portrayed by her caucus as an attempt to delay the budget review process.
The DPP previously criticized Lo over a visit to Japanese elementary schools to study AI education and school lunch programs, per Liberty Times. The party accused him of using public funds for the trip and later criticized him for failing to begin the budget review process.
Lo called on the DPP to review committee records before criticizing him, per CNews. He said the committee agenda already scheduled budget reviews for June 17 and 18 and argued that lawmakers should not neglect other legislative business while focusing on the budget.
KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) questioned Ministry of Education officials on Thursday about whether the trip to Japan was publicly funded, per KNews. Ministry of Education Administrative Deputy Minister Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) replied that it was not.
