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■有議員在立法會會議上表明支持剪布。 資料圖片
財政司司長曾俊華12日在網誌中強調，立法會不能在5月中通過《撥款條例草案》，是社會和政府都不能承受的情況。屆時大部分部門將在6月不同時間出現資金短缺，影響醫療、教育、民生、執法和司法等公共服務；部分在7月初發放的社福津貼也將受到影響。事實上，拉布所引發的「財政懸崖」危機已經迫在眉睫，屆時首當其衝的將是110萬名正領取綜援、生果金等社會福利的弱勢市民，立時陷入斷糧之危，生計堪虞。「財崖」將導致各項社會服務大受影響，衝擊社會民生，基層市民將成為這次拉布戰的最大受害者。所有立法會議員有責任及早阻停拉布活動，如期完成預算案表決。
預算案的撥款涉及3,561億元的公共服務、影響超過100萬名受助人、50多萬名資助機構員工、16萬名公務員、數以千計的服務供應商及其員工的收入，如果未能在5月中完成表決，當局將馬上面對3千多億元的「財政懸崖」，款項之巨絕非部門間「拉上補下」所能夠應付得了，各項社會服務及福利勢將大受影響，其中更包括每月高達33億元的社會保障金撥款。拉布議員打出為弱勢市民爭取權益的旗號，但卻罔顧他們死活，令基層市民無辜成為拉布的犧牲者。
The grassroots are major victims of the filibuster
The Financial Secretary Tsang Chun-wah stressed in his blog on 12 May that both the community and the government would not be able to bear the situation if the Appropriation Bill could not be passed by the Legislative Council by the middle of May. If that happens, most of the government departments will face a shortage of fund at different points of time in June, affecting such public services as medical care, education, livelihoods and judiciary etc. Part of the social welfare allowances due to be distributed at the beginning of July will also be affected. In fact, the "fiscal cliff" crisis likely to be caused by the filibuster is imminent. The ones who will have to bear the first blow will be the 1.1 million underprivileged people currently receiving social benefits such as comprehensive social security assistance and fruit money. They will immediately face the risk of discontinued financial support and their livelihoods will then be in jeopardy. The "fiscal cliff" will affect various kinds of social services, and have great impact on the community and livelihoods of people. The grassroots will be the major victims of this filibuster.It is the duty of all Legislative Councillors to stop the filibuster at the earliest and to complete the voting on the budget on time as schedule.
The appropriation of public fund recommended in the budget involves HKD356.1 billion worth of public services. The fund has effect on the income of more than one million social welfare recipients, more than 500,000 employees working in subvented organizations, 160,000 civil servants and thousands of service providers and their employees. If the voting cannot be completed by the middle of May, the government will immediately face a fiscal cliff of more than HKD300 billion. The amount is so huge that the problem cannot be solved by simply "reallocating resources" between various departments. Unavoidably, different social services and welfare benefits will be greatly affected. Among them is the HK$3.3 billion monthly payment of social security funding. The filibustering lawmakers instigated their filibuster in the name of fighting for the benefits of the underprivileged; however, they do not seem to have regard for the welfare of the underprivileged people, and they make people from the grassroots the innocent victims of their filibuster.（節自香港《文匯報》2013年5月13日） ■Translation by Tung-ming [tungming23@gmail.com]
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