The Fernández administration rejected a proposal of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) that would condition the reaching of an agreement on the national agenda to the participation of PRD legislators in the preparing of the Budget Bill for 1999. Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temístocles Montás said that the PRD cannot impose itself on what is a right granted by the Constitution to the Executive Branch of government. "To demand the participation of Congress in the making of the Budget, is an encroachment of functions. We request that organization wait for the Dominican people to elect a PRD person to the Presidency so they can exercise their constitutional right to prepare the budget of the nation." Lawyer Enmanuel Esquea subsequently denied that the PRD conditioned its participation in talks with the government towards developing a national agenda to its participation in the preparation of the budget.
