The budget battle between Taiwan's Presidential Office and the Legislative Yuan has spread to Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes, and those hit most directly are workers with disabilities.

• The Legislative Yuan recently passed a proposal put forward by KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-ling and others to cut and freeze NT$30 million of the Presidential Office's state affairs fund.
• With the money frozen, orders for some 15,000 Mid-Autumn gift boxes from 37 sheltered workshops across Taiwan have been affected.
• Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an held a press conference urging the public to buy the gift boxes, and hit back at the proposers for "getting the better of the deal and then playing innocent."
• Weng Hsiao-ling responded that the Presidential Office was engaging in emotional blackmail, questioning why the state affairs fund's spending has never been made public, and saying that acts of charity should be done quietly with one's own money.
• The conditions for unfreezing are clear: Lai Ching-te must promulgate the five shelved bills as required by the Constitution, and submit a written report for approval.

Outlook: As long as the deadlock over the five bills remains unresolved, the NT$20 million in frozen funds cannot be touched in the short term, and the sheltered workshops' Mid-Autumn orders will have to be made up through private purchases.