The Ruling Party Expected to Reject in Re-vote with Opposing Votes
The ruling and opposition parties will confront each other head-on over the re-vote on the Nursing Act on the 30th. While the ruling party criticizes the opposition for engaging in election engineering for the general election, the opposition argues that the ruling party should return to a supportive stance by emphasizing public health and other concerns.
Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the People Power Party's floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the same day, "Today, the Democratic Party plans to forcibly proceed with the re-vote on the Nursing Act," adding, "The People Power Party has already decided to reject it as the party's official stance." Floor leader Yoon pointed out, "The Nursing Act is likely to cause excessive conflicts among professional groups, which could have a significant adverse effect on protecting the public's right to health. Knowing this, the Democratic Party is pushing the law through with the power of the majority, which induces the government's re-examination right, increases the political burden on the government and ruling party, and is a calculation for winning next year's general election."
He said, "The Democratic Party's push for this vote-buying bad law is expected to continue in June," mentioning, "These include the Yellow Envelope Act, the Broadcasting Act, and the Interest-Free Student Loan Act." He continued, "Generally, these laws have such significant negative impacts and side effects that even when the Democratic Party had an overwhelming majority in government and the ruling party, they did not pursue them," adding, "Now pushing these bad laws means that the country and the people do not matter; the only purpose is election engineering to win the general election by any means." Floor leader Yoon also said, "In addition, there is also the purpose of shielding from judicial risks of the party leader, the Song Young-gil money envelope gate, and the Kim Nam-guk coin gate to divert public suspicion," and lamented, "It is regrettable that the only way to stop the Democratic Party's legislative rampage is the president's exercise of the re-examination request."
On the other hand, the Democratic Party argued that the Nursing Act is a presidential pledge and appealed for support in the vote.
Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said, "We have had several discussions on ways to prepare a revised Nursing Act between the ruling and opposition parties, but we could not find common ground," and argued, "What should be emphasized in the Nursing Act is not the conflict of interests among medical professions but the public's health." Floor leader Park said, "More than one million people cannot go to the hospital without someone's help, and that number will continue to increase," adding, "Protecting those one million caregivers and families, and the increasing number of people, strengthening the public healthcare system through the Nursing Act, and considering the benefits that the public should receive, it is right for the Nursing Act to pass."
Regarding the re-vote on the Nursing Act, he mentioned ▲the Nursing Act as a promise to the public ▲alignment with the public's right to health ▲political restoration with the opposition ▲and the national governance principle of unity, urging, "Please do not ignore the pain of one million desperate citizens and their urgent families," and "I earnestly appeal once again to vote from the people's side."
On the day, the Nursing Act is expected to proceed with the re-vote procedure in the plenary session through changes in the motion. However, since the People Power Party, which holds more than one-third of the seats, opposes it, it is expected to be rejected.
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