The Lower House passed a revised deficit-covering bond bill Thursday evening, setting the stage for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to dissolve the chamber Friday for a general election.
The start of the plenary session of the Lower House was delayed due to technical matters, but the bill cleared the chamber with the support of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito as well as the Democratic Party of Japan-led ruling coalition.
The Upper House, controlled by the opposition, is expected to pass the revised bill into law Friday.
The bill calls for allowing the government to issue deficit-covering bonds unconditionally through fiscal 2015.
The Lower House also passed an electoral reform bill. The bill is centered on a plan to take one district each from five prefectures in an effort to correct vote disparities between rural and urban districts.
Another bill to clear the Lower House will reduce public pension benefits, which the government has kept unchanged despite declines in consumer prices.
The bill, which will implement a 2.5 percent reduction in three phases between October 2013 and April 2015 through a revision of the National Pension Law, received majority support at the Lower House plenary session from DPJ, LDP and New Komeito lawmakers.
The Lower House also passed a bill providing a monthly payment of ¥5,000 per person to low-income pensioners. The two bills are set to be enacted by the Upper House on Friday.