Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda plans to keep the Diet open until early August to ensure the enactment of tax and social security system reform bills that will double the consumption tax, sources said.
After Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan cut a last-minute deal with the opposition parties on amending the bills by Friday's deadline, the prime minister now hopes to put them to a vote in the Lower House before the Diet closes on Thursday.
The session can be extended by some 50 days to provide enough time for deliberation in the opposition-controlled Upper House, the sources said.
A special committee in the Lower House has already spent more than 100 hours deliberating the bills since mid-May, surpassing the threshold deemed necessary for voting on legislation.
"A similar or larger amount of time would be needed for deliberations in the Upper House," a senior official said Saturday.
The official also called for establishing a special committee in the Upper House that can discuss any of the reform bills even on unscheduled dates.
"The Diet session may be extended until the Bon summer holidays" in mid-August, a senior official of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party said.
DPJ policy chief Seiji Maehara will try to gain a consensus in the party Monday on the amendments agreed to by the DPJ, the LDP and New Komeito. The three-party deal marks a big step forward in the contentious proposal to raise the 5 percent tax rate to 8 percent in April 2014 and 10 percent in October 2015.
Noda is expected to hold talks with LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki and New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi as early as Wednesday to win their support for enacting key legislation, including the tax and social security bills, during the session, and for extending the session.
The prime minister is scheduled to attend the Group of 20 summit meeting in Mexico and return home on Wednesday.
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Noda may extend Diet until August
