Sept. 18 Legislative Report: Education Committee Members Double Up on Budget Committee Roles
In the 22nd National Assembly, budget review and the education audit of government ministries have converged on a single front.
According to publicly available National Assembly records, Rep. Han Seung-hee of the Rebuilding Korea Party is simultaneously serving on the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and the Education Committee. Lawmakers Kim, Lee, and Shin Yong-yeon of the same party are also reported to hold seats on both committees. The structure, in which Education Committee members also take on Budget Committee roles, reflects the share that the education budget occupies in the regular session's budget review. The fact that Rep. Han also participated in proposing education-related bills, such as the Act on the Training of Elementary School Teachers, hardly seems unrelated to this overlapping activity.
Education Fiscal Review: A Structure That Straddles Two Committees
The Special Committee on Budget and Accounts is the National Assembly's core body for reviewing the government budget bill and final accounts. The Education Committee handles bills under the Ministry of Education's jurisdiction as well as audits of government ministries. When more lawmakers belong to both committees, bill sponsorship and budget procurement can flow together as a single stream. Indeed, Rep. Han took part in the audit of the Ministry of Education while also putting her name to education legislation in the 22nd National Assembly. Since bills that pass without budgetary backing lose their effectiveness, holding both platforms at once is interpreted as a strategic choice from the lawmakers' perspective.
Rep. Lim Ji-rak of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Kim Il-hwan of the People Power Party also serve on both the Budget Committee and the Education Committee. The pattern of education-field lawmakers across party lines directly engaging in budget review has become more pronounced in this Assembly. Rep. Han Kwon of the same party (Rebuilding Korea) sponsored seven bills in June 2024 alone, with an amendment to the Elderly Welfare Act being a representative example. In fiscal-demand-heavy fields such as welfare and education, bill sponsorship and budget review are moving in tandem.
It Is Tied to the Legislative Wave That Swept the Plenary Session
These committee activities track the legislative pace of the recent plenary sessions. The National Assembly recently passed 70 bills in a single day, including 51 follow-up bills on prosecutorial reform. A representative example was the overhaul replacing remaining references to the 'prosecutors' office' in the Criminal Act with 'prosecutorial duties,' in line with the abolition of the Prosecutors' Office and the creation of the Indictment Office and the Major Crimes Investigation Agency. Also crossing the Assembly's threshold were an amendment to the Rights Assurance Act establishing a legal basis for emergency care for people with developmental disabilities, and an amendment to the Local Autonomy Act introducing a public covenant system.
In the two-party dynamic, defection votes also stand out. In the August 20 vote on the National Pension Act amendment, eight members of the People Power Party voted against it, and ten broke with the party line on the Framework Act on the Construction Industry amendment. In recent votes as well, four PPP members opposed the amendment to the Special Act on the October 29 Itaewon Crowd Crush, and three Democratic Party members opposed the National Intelligence Service Act amendment. As the plenary digests bills at a rapid pace, intra-party disagreements are surfacing with each individual measure.
The Calculations of Rising Stars and Veterans at the Budget-Audit Crossroads
Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party holds the Hwaseong-eul (Dongtan, Hwaseong), Gyeonggi Province district and continues his activity within the Assembly. Regardless of opinion polls, the legislative survival strategy of a district-based lawmaker is ultimately proven through budgets and audits. Given that school expansion and educational infrastructure in the Dongtan new city are core local issues, the ripple effects of concurrent service on the Education and Budget Committees may be felt even more strongly in a specific district.
How the education sector's bills and budget will be prioritized in this year's regular session is a point to watch. If proposals to overhaul the teacher training system or reshape the education finance allocation structure come to the table, the role of lawmakers serving on dual committees is expected to grow. Conversely, if the overall budget becomes tight, the actual scale of education spending reflected in the budget—rather than the number of bills sponsored—will become the measure of a lawmaker's capability. The moment when promises made in the name of legislation are converted into numbers called budgets is drawing near.
