ISLAMABAD: The Upper House of the Parliament is scheduled to begin debate on the proposed federal budget for the financial year on Monday (today).
Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani had adjourned the Senate sitting till today after Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb moved a copy of the Finance Bill 2026 in the Senate earlier on Friday, amidst protest by the opposition lawmakers who rejected the proposed federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
In the brief Senate sitting on Friday, the Finance minister laid a copy of the proposed Finance Bill 2025, shortly after presenting it in the National Assembly, in the Senate, in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions, following which, the chairman Senate directed the senators to share their recommendations, if any, on the bill by 15th June (today).
The chairman then referred the bill to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue with the direction to finalise its recommendations on the bill.
The opposition lawmakers in the Senate dismissed the Finance Bill 2026 as “anti-poor” and “anti-public.”
Legislatively, the Upper House of the Parliament has no practical role in the passage of the federal budget. The Senate can hold extensive debate on the finance bill and devise recommendations accordingly, but it has no role in budgetary legislation. It is completely up to the National Assembly to either accept those recommendations or reject them completely or partially.
The Article 73 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which deals with parliamentary business with respect to money bills, reads that a money bill shall “originate in the National Assembly: Provided that simultaneously when a money bill, including the finance bill containing the annual budget statement, is presented in the National Assembly, a copy thereof shall be transmitted to the Senate which may, within 14 days, make recommendations thereon to the National Assembly.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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