The 2004 National Budget being debated in the Senate has assigned more funds to the Chamber of Deputies. These funds will come from the budgets of the ministries of Environment and the Interior & Armed Forces, according to the Diario Libre. According to Roberto Valenzuela of El Caribe, the senators and deputies began to work out the budget after the deputies asked for an increase of RD$282 million to their allocations. If approved, this will bring the total funding for the Chamber of Deputies to RD$900 million. Initially, the deputies were not going to approve any budget that did not assign them RD$1.15 billion, but following some backroom discussions they relented and agreed to the RD$900 million pesos.
In a report in the Diario Libre newspaper, the director of the Instituto Dominicano de Desarrollo Integral (IDDI), David Luther criticized that the government continues to grant subsidies to non-governmental agencies in the form of government booty. Budgets to NGOs was increased in the budget RD$201.6 million, regardless of the call to austerity. Luther complained that the council created to follow up work of non-governmental agencies (CONASAFIL) is inoperant, and despite this the number of NGOs receiving budget allotments has been increased.