Vice-President Rafael Alburquerque pointed out yesterday that the National Budget will severely limit the President’s ability to implement plans to combat poverty. The special laws that focus parts of the budget on specific areas, such as the Congress (4% of the budget), the municipalities (10% of the budget) and debt service (40% of the budget), leave the Executive Branch with reduced funding for social programs to help the needy. The Judicial Branch gets 3%, the Government Accounting Office gets 0.55% and the National Council for Children gets 2% of the National Budget. Alburquerque made his comments after participating in a FINJUS seminar named Transparency in the Fight Against Poverty. Nonetheless, the Vice-President said that the government would continue to try to better the lives of the poor, and called the new Eating Comes First program only a small part of their strategy.