The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Hector Peguero Mendez, was optimistic that the National Budget would be passed in that legislative house today. The 1998 budget for RD$38,000 million was passed by the Senate last week but met with an impasse in the Chamber of Deputies, where several Reformista deputies, including president of the chamber Peguero Mendez, insisted that the government include chapters for the payment of arrears with contractors of public works, contracted during the previous Balaguer-PRSC government. The government has said it will not negotiate with the PRSC deputies.
