A senior member of New Komeito threw another hurdle at Prime Minister Naoto Kan's effort to steer bills related to the fiscal 2011 budget through a divided Diet on Sunday by saying his small opposition party is reluctant to support the legislation.
"Given that we are voting against the budget itself, it is hard to back the related bills. This is the atmosphere that prevails in our party," Yoshio Urushibara, chief of New Komeito's Diet affairs committee, said during a Fuji Television program.
Urushibara also hinted his party may oppose a new bill on child allowances as well. The bill is intended to succeed the existing temporary law, which only covers payments for fiscal 2010 ending March 31.