Opposition to the reform

[NewsWhore]

The chorus of voices against President Leonel Fernandez's fiscal reform, which aims to secure RD$17 billion to balance the budget, grows louder and louder by the day, and it now appears that his speech to the nation on Monday has not helped calm anyone down. PRD and PRSC legislators have vowed not to vote for the fiscal reform, and Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado has asked for other sectors in the country to continue speaking out against it. Victor Bisono Haza (PRSC) was quoted in El Caribe newspaper as saying that Fernandez's austerity plan was no more than a "word game." Bisono stated that a true austerity plan would have called for the dismissal of all superfluous government personnel, starting with all the vice consuls employed by the government, as well as all the Presidential assistants and aides. Senator Felix Vasquez Espinal from Sanchez Ramirez province said that although the reform wouldn't have catastrophic effects, the President is trying to push it through without listening to the concerns of various social sectors. The ruling PLD party legislators hold the majority in Congress and will thus have the final word. The PRD has seven senators and the PRSC has four senators of a total of 32 senators. The PRSC and PRD combined have 82 deputies of a total of 178. But with news of internal PLD tensions and opposition to the idea of President Leonel Fernandez running again, it is possible that some PLD senators and deputies could vote against the President's proposed tax increases, so the passing of the reform is not yet a given.

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