Hacienda Minister Simon Lizardo has told the Joint Commission that is studying the National Budget for 2016 that revenue is too tight to be able to respond to the calls for increases from many sectors. After a three-hour session with the Commission yesterday, Wednesday 14 October 2015, Lizardo stated that the government designed the budget proposal taking into account the institutions that had called for an increase last year. These institutions included the Central Electoral Board, the Constitutional Tribunal, the Superior Electoral Tribunal, the Chamber of Accounts and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. At the same time, Commission chairman Senator Tommy Galan said that they would meet again on Tuesday 20 October 2015 and would be preparing a rough draft to be presented to the Senate session. The 2016 budget proposed at RD$663.56 billion should be approved before 31 December 2015.