Government agencies are hoping that their budget requests for 2010 can be approved by legislators before the winter recess starts Jan. 12, and the KMT's caucus whip believes there's a better chance of success if disputed parts of their requests are 'frozen' rather than 'cut.' The central government has presented an overall budget request of NT$1.73 trillion. Since many funding proposals have yet to gain the support of opposition Democratic Progressive Party legislators, the ruling party caucus is seeking consensus on the budget through negotiation and believes its approach could expedite the process. KMT caucus whip Lu Hsueh-chang said Saturday that while the caucus will not be overprotective of the government in screening the budgets, he suggested that legislators carefully evaluate the purposes of funding requests before deciding on any cuts. The best way to ensure effective passage and implementation of the budget plans, Lu said, would be to pass the budget but freeze contentious funding requests until the government agencies provide clear justifications of their plans. The KMT caucus has proposed to freeze NT$96 billion in requests, representing 5.3 percent of the total budget, while making minor cuts of NT$1.7 billion, accounting for 0.1 percent of the total. DPP caucus whip Wang Hsin-nan insisted that the DPP would not make unnecessary cuts but would suggest cuts where it believed there was overlap or where funding requests were overstated. The DPP caucus has demanded that proposed spending in the overall budget submitted by the central government be cut 2.9 percent. 