Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties are clashing fiercely over the complete deletion and freezing of the president's state affairs fund, and the fallout is bad news for disadvantaged groups and retired police officers and firefighters alike.

• KMT and TPP lawmakers joined forces to cut and freeze the president's NT$30 million state affairs fund, prompting the Presidential Office to call off a plan to buy Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes from sheltered workshops for distribution to disadvantaged households.
• Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an hit back at KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-ling, who put forward the proposal, telling her "not to take advantage and then play innocent," as the two traded barbs from a distance.
• Huang Kuo-chang countered that the DPP was using social welfare groups to cover for Lai Ching-te, saying the funds could be unfrozen immediately if the president simply promulgated and implemented, as required by law, the legislation passed on third reading by the Legislative Yuan.
• He called on the Executive Yuan to put forward its own draft amendments to the Public Assistance Act, stressing that caring for the disadvantaged depends on long-term institutional arrangements, not on buying mooncakes.
• The TPP staged a protest outside the Executive Yuan the same day over the government's failure to budget for retired police and firefighters' pensions as required by law, accusing it of double standards and of bullying police and firefighters.

Outlook: The deadlock over the state affairs fund and the retired police and firefighters' pension budget is unlikely to be resolved soon, and amending the Public Assistance Act is set to become the next focus of contention.