今国会の会期延長せず　日米貿易、成立可能と判断―政府・与党調整

　政府・与党は１２月９日までの今国会会期を延長しない方向で調整に入った。複数の政権幹部が２１日、明らかにした。今の会期内に重要課題と位置付ける日米貿易協定承認案などの成立は可能と見る一方、これまで目指していた国民投票法改正案の成立は見送ることから、現時点で延長の必要はないと判断した。
　公明党幹部は「日米貿易協定承認案が参院で成立すれば、基本的に延長はない」と語った。自民党国対関係者も「よほどの突発事項がない限り、延長はない」と述べた。
　協定承認案は２１日の参院外交防衛委員会で実質審議入りし、成立に必要な日数は今の会期内で確保できる見込みだ。自民党の世耕弘成参院幹事長は同日のＣＳ放送収録で「会期内に十分承認できるだろう」と指摘。他の法案についても「会期内で十分処理できる」との認識を示した。
　国民投票法改正案の扱いをめぐっては与野党の溝が埋まらず、来年１月召集の通常国会で仕切り直すことになった。野党が「桜を見る会」問題で予算委員会への安倍晋三首相の出席を求める中、与党は早期に今国会を閉じるのが得策との考えだ。（2019/11/21-20:31）

Japan's government and ruling camp are planning not to extend the current extraordinary session of the Diet, the country's parliament, which is scheduled to end on Dec. 9, sources in the administration said Thursday.
   Enacting important bills, including one to ratify a recently signed Japan-U.S. trade agreement, without extending the session is possible, the sources said, adding that an extension is unnecessary also because the ruling bloc has given up on passing a controversial bill to amend the national referendum law during the ongoing session.
   "In principle, there's no need to extend the extraordinary session once the trade pact ratification bill is passed," a senior official of Komeito, the coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said. "The Diet session won't be extended unless a very urgent issue comes up," an LDP official in charge of parliamentary affairs said.
   The House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, launched full-fledged debates on the trade bill on Thursday, at its Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, after the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, passed it on Tuesday.
   "The bill is highly likely to be enacted" during the current term of the extraordinary session, Hiroshige Seko, a senior LDP lawmaker in the Upper House, said in the recording of a television program on Thursday. "It's fully possible for the Diet to pass other key bills" before the currently scheduled end of the ongoing session, he added.