子ども手当廃止 与野党協調への足掛かりだ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Aug. 6, 2011)
Changing allowance system a step toward cooperation
子ども手当廃止　与野党協調への足掛かりだ（8月5日付・読売社説）

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan has finally decided to withdraw a major component of its campaign pledges for the 2009 general election, through which the DPJ came into power.
　民主党が政権公約（マニフェスト）で掲げた大看板を、ようやく下ろすことになった。

Secretaries general and policy chiefs of the DPJ, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito agreed Thursday to essentially scrap the current child-rearing allowance system.
　民主、自民、公明３党の幹事長と政調会長が、子ども手当を事実上、廃止することで合意した。

It may be too late, but the de facto abolition of the child-rearing allowance system has overcome one of the hurdles to enacting a bill that will allow the government to issue deficit-covering bonds.
　遅きに失した感はあるが、赤字国債の発行を可能にする特例公債法案の成立へ、ハードルを一つ越えた。

The DPJ leadership should closely unite party members and make a greater effort to get the bill through the Diet as soon as possible.
民主党執行部は、党内をしっかり取りまとめ、早期成立へ一層努力すべきだ。

The original DPJ plan for the child-rearing allowance system was to pay households with children of middle school age or younger 26,000 yen per child per month.
　子ども手当は、最終的には中学生までの全員に対し、月２万６０００円を一律支給する構想で、

If this plan had been fully implemented, it would have cost the government 5.5 trillion yen per year.
完全実施されると年に５・５兆円が必要になる。

The current system provides only half the original figure, but the government has difficulty continuing even that. 　現在は半額の支給にとどまっているが、それを続けることさえ困難だった。

From the beginning, the child-rearing allowance system has been an impossible policy that lacked financial resources.
最初から財源の裏付けを欠いた無理な政策であり、

In addition, the government now needs a huge amount of funds to repair the damage caused by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
加えて、東日本大震災で巨額の復興財源が必要になった以上、

We think it is a matter of course to scrap it.
廃止するのは当然である。

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Introduction of income cap

The current child-rearing allowance system is based on a stopgap law to extend the child-rearing allowance law enacted in fiscal 2010 for six months.
Since this stopgap law expires in September, a new special measures bill will be enacted during the current Diet session to alter the present child-rearing allowance system, according to the three-party agreement.
　合意によると、現行の子ども手当の根拠となる「つなぎ法」が切れる今年１０月からは、来年３月までの特別措置法で対応する。

From October through March, the modified system under the special measures law will provide 15,000 yen per child younger than 3 years old and the same amount for third and subsequent children from 3 to 12 years old.
　１０月からの支給額は、３歳未満の全員と３～１２歳の第３子以降が月１万５０００円、

Households will receive 10,000 yen per month for first and second children aged from 3 to 12 and those in middle school, according to the agreement.
３～１２歳の第１、２子と中学生に対しては月１万円となる。

In fiscal 2012, the child benefit law will be revised and an income cap introduced.
　来年度以降は、児童手当法を改正し、所得制限も復活させる。

This means there will no longer be a uniform provision of benefits, a major principle of the current child-rearing allowance system; it will also expand the previous child benefit system from the time of the LDP-Komeito coalition government.
子ども手当が大原則としていた一律支給をやめ、自公政権時代の児童手当の仕組みを拡充する形だ。

It will be effective not only in countering the falling birthrate but also as an economic measure to provide needier households with more benefits by considering specific financial situations and the number of children in such families.
　子育て家庭の経済事情や子どもの数を考慮し、より必要な家庭に手当を重点配分することは、少子化対策としても経済対策としても有効であろう。

If the child-rearing allowance system is modified based on the three-party agreement, 500 billion yen will be saved to spend on repairing damage caused by the March 11 disaster.
　合意に基づいて制度を再設計すると、年に５０００億円程度を復興に回すことができる。

We think this is a realistic policy change.
現実的な方向転換である。

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Dole-out policy to be reviewed

Although details of the income cap have been left for future discussions, it is still significant that the both ruling and opposition parties were able to reach an agreement on a major facet of the nation's social security system.
　所得制限の具体的な内容など詰め切れていない点は残るものの、社会保障政策の柱の一つで与野党が合意した意義は大きい。

DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada claimed that the ideals of his party's child-rearing allowance system were maintained in the agreement.
　民主党の岡田幹事長は、子ども手当の理念は貫かれていると強弁する。

Okada appears to have said this because he expected opposition from diehard members of the DPJ who stubbornly try to keep every element of the party's manifesto intact.
マニフェストを頑(かたく)なに守ろうとする党内の“原理主義者”の反発を意識したのだろう。

However, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Okada have already admitted the failure of the DPJ manifesto and apologized to the public.
　だが、菅首相も岡田幹事長もマニフェストの破綻を認め、国民に謝罪したはずだ。

If Okada readily caters to the opinions of the fundamentalists, it will cause serious problems in the future.
安易に迎合しては将来に禍根を残す。

The DPJ also should drastically review its other dole-out policy measures besides the child-rearing allowance. 　民主党は、子ども手当以外のばらまき政策も、抜本的に見直すべきだ。

This will promote constructive cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties.
それが、建設的な与野党の協力を推し進めることになる。

This pragmatic policy line must be taken up by the administration that succeeds Kan's government.
　この現実路線を「ポスト菅」政権にも引き継がねばならない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 5, 2011)
（2011年8月5日01時10分  読売新聞）