Govt gears up for Monday battle

Although the legislative debate on the public debt decree is expected to be fiery, the government has remained upbeat for the authorisation to borrow Bt800 billion to overcome the economic downturn, PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey said yesterday.

"The government is fully ready to push for the passage of the decree and has braced for any opposition tactics designed to derail the debate," Satit said.

He said coalition lawmakers will attend the debate in full force in order to prevent the opposition demanding a quorum count as a pretext to trigger an abrupt ending the session.

He reminded all sides to debate the decree in good faith because at stake is the remedy to overcome the sluggish economy.

He ruled out concern that opposition lawmakers would try to invoke procedural rules in order to stall or cancel voting on the decree.

The debate is expected to last until Tuesday and will be broadcast live by the Parliament radio station from 9.30 am to 11.00 pm, chief coalition whip Chinnaworn Boonyakiart said.

Under the debate guidelines laid down by coalition and opposition whips, 12 hours will be allotted for the opposition, followed by seven hours for the coalition and four hours for rebuttals by ministers concerned.

Each lawmaker is expected to take up no more than 10 minutes speaking from the floor.

Following the vote on the decree, the House will debate the Budget Bill from Wednesday to Thursday.

The prime minister and the Cabinet members have been allocated a total of six hours to justify the spending plans and for rebuttals. Coalition MPs will have eight hours and the opposition bench 15 hours.