The government has passed three supplementary budgets, but it could be another two years before we receive any compensation.
The committee's chairman, an LDP elder, maintained that Mrs Tanaka's skills were needed for parliamentary debate on supplementary budgets.
Amref must either develop supplementary budgets for a second phase which will deal with the unmet needs of some villages, or it should "develop a replication strategy", so that government or other NGOs can take over the work.
His Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, has decided to postpone a risky consumption-tax hike planned for next year, while also announcing supplementary budgets to increase spending and boost the household sector's purchasing power.
If the past is any guide, though, Mr. Koizumi will be under intense pressure to abandon his fiscal austerity policies and to increase spending, perhaps by using supplementary budgets later in the fiscal year, a common practice in Japan.
Under pressure from lawmakers in his own party who hold that view, Mr. Koizumi grudgingly assembled two supplementary budgets with extra spending after Sept. 11, at the risk of muddying his reputation as a reformer.
The first chart shows the growth of the basic budget, along with the costs of the two wars, which have been financed mainly through supplementary budgets.
The government has passed $230 billion in supplementary budgets for reconstruction since the March 11 tsunami, most of which has gone for rebuilding projects.
