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View Full Version : Senate approves its version of budget



NewsWhore
01-07-2008, 04:30 PM
The Dominican Senate has approved its own version of the 2008 National Budget, voting to assign a total of RD$300,889,000,000 for its own expenditures during the year. The budget was passed with the 'yea' votes of the PLD and PRSC senators.
Hoy itemizes several of the allotments for the Legislative Branch approved by the legislators. For the 178 member Chamber of Deputies, approved were: RD$547 million in fixed wages, RD$76.4 million in telephone service, RD$96 million in per diem in the country and RD$130 million in per diem for travel abroad, RD$75 million in air fares for travel abroad, RD$120 million in food and drink, RD$20 million in art work, RD$30 million in tires for vehicles; RD$80 million for fuel, RD$5.5 for sports equipment, RD$70 million for recreational and educational equipment, RD$30 million for transport equipment.
The 32 senators allotted: RD$2 million for paper, RD$9 million for security forces, RD$5.5 million for local calls, RD$5.5 million for long distance calls, RD$30 million for propaganda, RD$14 million for printing, RD$18 million for fuel, RD$15 million for per diem in the country, RD$14.7 million for expenses, RD$18 million for fuel, RD$41 million for food and beverage.
An opposition PRD spokesperson said that the party would not vote on the measure since it violated laws that assigned specialized funding for specific branches and dependencies, specifically the Judicial Branch, the Chamber of Accounts, the municipalities and Congress. The Presidential Addendum to the budget contains specifics on the use of US$639 million from several loans, since loans must be approved on an individual basis.
The budget package that was approved by the Senate will have to go back to the Chamber of Deputies for final approval. The Chamber of Deputies is expected to expeditely pass the budget, as they did on 26 December 2007.

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