NewsWhore
10-06-2011, 02:50 PM
In an unusual move yesterday, the Senate declared the proposal for the National Budget as urgent and passed it in two consecutive readings. The budget for RD$430 billion was submitted by the Executive Branch on 30 September.
The legislative initiative was put on the agenda and the spokesman for the PLD bloc of senators, Aristides Victoria Yeb, immediately requested that the bill be freed of all the processes and declared urgent and passed in two readings.
Diario Libre reports that the urgency vote was passed by 16 of the 26 senators present in the chamber. Senator Jose Rafael Vargas (Espaillat) asked for the bill to be sent to a commission for study and consideration but his request was denied.
Rafael Calderon (Azua), the president of the Budget Commission, said that the bill was worked out in consensus with the IMF and defended the amounts assigned to education as well as public health, agriculture and public works.
The proposal includes a salary increase for members of the police and military of 15% for the ranks from private to captain and 10% from major to general. According to the 2012 Budget, the spending was projected considering the 15% salary increase in the Ministry of Education, 15% for the military and police in the lower ranks and 10% for the higher ranking officers. In addition, the Executive Branch has argued that social expenditures were prioritized in order to reduce poverty, through a greater expansion of beneficiaries for the programs with focused subsidies.
The Executive Branch has said that capital expenditures were determined after establishing the priority for education, public health, communication, potable water, housing and hydroelectric projects. A reduction in the electricity subsidy, by taking on a series of measures for the improvement in the efficiency of the electricity distributors and modifying the energy base as far as possible so that they use cheaper fuels is contemplated.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
The legislative initiative was put on the agenda and the spokesman for the PLD bloc of senators, Aristides Victoria Yeb, immediately requested that the bill be freed of all the processes and declared urgent and passed in two readings.
Diario Libre reports that the urgency vote was passed by 16 of the 26 senators present in the chamber. Senator Jose Rafael Vargas (Espaillat) asked for the bill to be sent to a commission for study and consideration but his request was denied.
Rafael Calderon (Azua), the president of the Budget Commission, said that the bill was worked out in consensus with the IMF and defended the amounts assigned to education as well as public health, agriculture and public works.
The proposal includes a salary increase for members of the police and military of 15% for the ranks from private to captain and 10% from major to general. According to the 2012 Budget, the spending was projected considering the 15% salary increase in the Ministry of Education, 15% for the military and police in the lower ranks and 10% for the higher ranking officers. In addition, the Executive Branch has argued that social expenditures were prioritized in order to reduce poverty, through a greater expansion of beneficiaries for the programs with focused subsidies.
The Executive Branch has said that capital expenditures were determined after establishing the priority for education, public health, communication, potable water, housing and hydroelectric projects. A reduction in the electricity subsidy, by taking on a series of measures for the improvement in the efficiency of the electricity distributors and modifying the energy base as far as possible so that they use cheaper fuels is contemplated.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)