Taiwan's government is warning that welfare payments and energy subsidies could lapse if lawmakers do not pass a large supplementary budget by year-end — bad news for pensioners, public workers, and anyone counting on frozen utility prices.

• Premier Cho Jung-tai is pushing the legislature to clear both the main budget and a supplementary budget within the legal deadline.
• The extra spending package runs to about NT$600 billion and covers farmer and elderly welfare payments, the national pension, and six other benefit programs.
• A big chunk goes to keeping energy cheap: subsidies to hold down gasoline, diesel, natural gas, cooking gas, and electricity prices, plus fresh capital for the state oil company.
• Raises for military personnel, civil servants, and teachers, backdated to July, would also fall through if the bill is not passed in time.
• The cabinet wants the bill through by the end of November, framing the legislature as either a help or an obstacle to the country's competitiveness.

Outlook: Expect a tense standoff in the legislature through November, with household energy bills and welfare payments hanging on the outcome.