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*1.8 tril. yen extra budget passes lower house committee* TOKYO, Oct. 8 KYODO A 1.81 trillion yen supplementary budget aimed to support businesses and livelihoods cleared the House of Representatives Budget Committee Wednesday, paving the way for the lower house to pass it in a plenary session later in the day. The government-proposed extra budget for the current fiscal year is likely to pass the opposition-controlled House of Councillors as early as Oct. 16 for enactment -- an issue Prime Minister Taro Aso has said that he will prioritize before dissolving the lower house for a general election. By approving the extra budget, the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan intends to urge Aso to call an election, which is already delayed from the initial timing by the ruling parties, amid growing uncertainty over Japan's economy in the wake of the U.S.-triggered financial turmoil. The extra budget is part of an 11.7 trillion yen emergency policy package, unveiled at the end of August and designed to alleviate the negative impact on the Japanese economy from spikes in energy and raw material prices. The budget cleared the lower house committee with a majority vote by the ruling coalition parties of Aso's Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party, as well as the DPJ. The extra budget includes 351.8 billion yen for projects intended to ease people's concerns, such as lessening senior citizens' medical cost burdens, and 729.6 billion yen for disaster prevention measures. It also includes 188.1 billion yen to promote a low-carbon society and enhance the competitiveness of domestic farm and fishery industries, 446.9 billion yen to support small businesses and 91.6 billion yen to aid local governments. Despite recent falls in crude oil prices in global markets, some Japanese companies still face severe business conditions as they have not fully passed on past surges in raw material import prices to consumers. Before the budget committee's approval, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said at its meeting he has ''a sense of cautiousness'' about Japan's economic situation, and the government would ''put all its efforts to enact the extra budget to address the concerns of (people's) lives.'' With the lower house's current term set to expire in September next year, Aso, who took office on Sept. 24 after unpopular Yasuo Fukuda resigned, is apparently looking for a time to call an election that would favor the ruling parties. The ruling parties currently hold an overwhelming majority in the powerful lower house. ==Kyodo [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
