Deputies received $9.8 million in special subsidies in December 2015.
BY YVONNE REYES
The News
Handing out bonuses to deputies is a common practice and in December 2015 alone parliamentary groups set aside 180 million pesos ($9.8 million) for this special subsidy, said deputy Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizens’ Movement party.
Álvarez Máynez presented an initiative to prohibit the awarding of special, extraordinary or additional subsidies to legislators.
The initiative proposes that the annual amount of subsidies assigned to parliamentary groups be incorporated with the Chamber of Deputies government account and that a copy of the model be sent to the internal audit office of this parliamentary body.
Álvarez Máynez acknowledged that federal deputies enjoy many economic privileges.
“Now, it is normal and natural for deputies to distribute among themselves, at the end of each year, the “excess” of budget expenses, sums of money that go beyond 300,000 pesos for each one. Last December, the Citizens’ Movement party publicly denounced the issues of extraordinary budget allocation,” he said.
“I just want to remind everyone that all of us here, just because of that fact, no mater what salary we made before in our professional life, whether private or public, are part of the richest 1 percent of the population thanks to the salary, remuneration and privileges enjoyed by deputies. But other than that, and even though the Federal Auditing Agency has repeatedly observed the budget management of all parliamentary groups, they still distribute extraordinary bonuses to themselves,” he added.
This proposal is part of the agenda of transparency and accountability promoted by the Citizens’ Movement party in order to combat the opacity in the Chamber of Deputies.