As MPs overcome the presidential rejection of three decrees to fund the Nation 2020 budget, the process will become controversial in the Constitutional Chamber.
Finance committee deputies agreed on Monday to overcome three vetoes by President Nayib Bukele on legislative decrees approved by the Assembly, one of them to fund the minimum pension increase and municipal development projects, with pandemic loan funds awaiting ratification.
There were several agreements to be adopted in this week’s plenary session with 56 votes from parliamentarians. Legislative decree no. 803 in connection with the $ 250 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), intends to exceed it, which contains $ 125 million to increase the minimum pension from $ 207 to $ 304 per month; and another $ 125 million for municipal development projects.
SEE: Nayib Bukele increases the minimum pension without securing funds
Bukele based his veto on the fact that the IDB loan was initially authorized to “support the efforts and actions of the Government of the Republic, to contain the health crisis derived from COVID-19 and the country’s economic recovery”, that the government has already used more $ 1 billion of the $ 2 billion the Assembly has authorized to fight the pandemic.
But, according to deputy Donato Vaquerano, from ARENA, the funds contained in the decrees gave “robustness to the budget” for 2021.
“Today we will overcome those vetoes to remove them for the next plenary session, the notification of the Chamber was received and issuing an opinion on the decree that gave him the opportunity to have funds for mayors and that the error that showed the chamber and we will spend the week future, ”Vaquerano explained.
FMLN MP Yanci Urbina said in the finance committee that Bukele’s veto is very “ill-founded”.
He added that there is evidence that the file shows that the destination was examined on the grounds that the unallocated funds for financing the pandemic care were redirected to the functioning of the 2021 budget.
Read also: Bukele sends a veto at the last minute to increase the minimum pension
“This was an initiative that was raised, we raised it for an important reason that it is not possible to continue with this process of discretionary use or misuse of public funds,” said Urbina.
Deputies also agreed to overcome another veto Bukele made on another $ 50 million loan with the US Central Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) to allocate resources to the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.