Japan passes second recovery budget

Japan's parliament on Monday enacted a $25 billion extra budget to pay for relief and rebuilding after the March 11 quake-tsunami, as Prime Minister Naoto Kan faced mounting pressure to resign. The upper house approved the two-trillion-yen second extra budget for fiscal 2011 following its passage through the lower house on Wednesday, a parliament spokesman said. The budget, seen as a stop-gap measure between the initial 4 trillion yen package passed in May and a third extra budget estimated to be around 10 trillion yen, was supported by both the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its partner New Komeito. The government has estimated costs resulting from damage from the disasters at 16.9 trillion yen, but this does not include expenses associated with the crisis at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Kan's administration has faced heavy criticism for not acting swiftly enough to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's northern Pacific coasts, with his approval ratings limping below 20 percent. The premier survived a no-confidence vote in June by promising to resign at some point in the future, and has since indicated that he will step down if three key bills, including the budget, are enacted.