Rafaela Alburquerque, president of the Chamber of Deputies, recognized yesterday that the Chamber is spending too much time on trivial matters and is behind on the discussion of important bills. She said the problem is that when an important bill comes to the house, it is sent to be studied by the appropriate commission. Unfortunately, those in charge of doing the studying seem to take forever, and the bills usually do not make it back to the floor. Mrs. Alburquerque says that given the situation that has been going on for years, she ordered that this week’s sessions be suspended to give deputies time to concentrate on the important bills that should return to the floor for discussion. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies spends most of its time passing pensions, upgrading territorial divisions and other trivial matters. The most important resolution of yesterday, was the naming of the new Herrera public hospital. The hospital will be known as Hospital Público Dr. Marcelino Velez Santana. In the Dominican Republic, congressmen and women are the highest paid government employees.
