The ruling Democratic Party of Japan Thursday rushed a bill through the Lower House Financial Affairs Committee on Thursday to help small and midsize enterprises overcome cash flow problems. The opposition Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito refused to join the vote. Later the Lower House approved the bill in a plenary session.

The vote marked the first time since the DPJ-led administration came into being that the DPJ has railroaded passage of a bill. When it was in the opposition, the DPJ used to criticize the LDP for pushing bills through without due deliberations. Now the DPJ is employing the same tactics.

The bill calls on banks and other lenders to ease the terms of repayments, including repayment periods, if requested by small and midsize firms or by home-loan borrowers. The committee did not begin deliberations on the bill until Wednesday. The DPJ decided to vote on it Thursday. The LDP and Komeito's opposition to hasty passage of the bill stands to reason.

Mr. Koichiro Genba, a DPJ member and chairman of the committee, said if the committee had not passed the bill Thursday, it would not have been enacted by the last day of the current Diet session (Nov. 30). The DPJ is determined to avoid having to extend the Diet session so that Cabinet members can devote themselves to budget compilation in December.

The administration has submitted 12 bills to the Diet in the current session. It is regrettable that the first vote on a bill was carried out in this way. If the DPJ, relying on its strength in numbers, plans to make a habit of refusing to give sufficient time to Diet deliberations of bills it favors, it should be criticized.

In his policy speech before the Diet, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama called for serious discussions in the Diet for the benefit of the public, and said the viewpoints of people in a minority position should be respected. The DPJ should act true to his word. Mr. Hatoyama also should not shun a one-on-one debate with LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki. To do so will only create the impression that he wants to bury the issue of irregularities linked to his political funds.