“The reduction of more than 800 million pesos from Durango’s budget represents a slap in the face” to the state, federal deputy Arturo Yáñez Cuéllar said, announcing that this issue will be taken to the country’s highest legislative forum during the next regular session. He considers it unfair that after legislators analyze, debate, and approve the budget, cuts are made during the year to the resources allocated to the states.
Questions Raised About Cuts During the Budget Year
Yáñez Cuéllar explained that during the next regular session, one of the main issues will be precisely the analysis of the budget that will take effect in October, but he expressed concern about how the budget approved for the states has been administered.
He explained that the legislative debate represents an exercise in which all deputies are willing to seek and manage resources for the entities they represent. However, he regretted that after this entire legislative process, the federal government ultimately reduces the resources allocated to the states during the year. “The debate is pointless, the defense we made last year so that our state would have a strong budget is pointless,” he said, considering that the reductions ultimately undermine part of the work carried out by legislators during the budget discussion.
The federal deputy recalled that Durango has faced two significant reductions. In the first stage, more than 600 million pesos were cut, followed by a second reduction of more than 230 million pesos, bringing the cumulative impact to more than 800 million pesos.
Durango Cannot Receive the Same Treatment as Larger Economies
The legislator acknowledged that, according to the federal government’s explanation, the reductions were not applied exclusively to Durango, but to more than 20 states, because the Revenue Law allegedly did not reach the projected income levels and, with fewer resources available, expenditures must also be reduced.
However, he argued that the economies of states such as Nuevo León, Mexico City, or the State of Mexico cannot be compared with that of Durango because local economic capacities are different. “Practically 230 million pesos for Durango is an enormous financial hole,” he stated.
Yáñez Cuéllar insisted that the resources reduced from the states ultimately have different impacts depending on each state’s economic capacity, which is why he considered it unfair to apply the same criterion to all states.
Warn of Possible Political Impact
The federal deputy also expressed concern about the possibility that the budget cuts could be related to political criteria and could particularly affect state governments that are not aligned with Morena or that are not part of what is known as the Fourth Transformation.
“Hopefully it is not a political signal, that perhaps opposition governments, governments that are not identified with Morena, that are not part of the Fourth Transformation, are being mistreated through the budget,” he said.
He considered that a situation of this kind would be unfair because the states are not responsible for the political differences that may exist between governments, much less the citizens who live in those entities. “We citizens who live in the states are not to blame for not having an affinity with the federal government, which practically belongs to another party,” he stated.
Recognize the State Government’s Efforts
Yáñez Cuéllar recognized the work carried out by Durango’s governor to secure resources from federal authorities and seek greater resources, infrastructure, and programs for the state. He said that the governor has maintained a strategy of approaching the federal government and that federal deputies have supported these efforts.
He also announced that he had already communicated with the governor to begin working on the priorities that should be presented for the 2027 budget.
He explained that the governor usually calls federal deputies together to present them with Durango’s priority projects and infrastructure works, so a new meeting is expected to take place in the coming days to learn about the needs and determine the requests and efforts that will need to be made.
The legislator considered that this exercise should be carried out regardless of political parties, since the objective should be to ensure that Durango does better.
They Will Take the Complaint to the Highest Legislative Forum
In response to the budget reductions, Arturo Yáñez Cuéllar announced that he will take the issue to the country’s highest legislative forum to demand that the resources previously approved by the Chamber of Deputies be respected.
He recalled that since November of last year, there had been an important debate in which legislators expressed their concern that the states receive greater resources. He therefore considered it necessary to review what is happening with the budget during its implementation. “We are going to take this issue of the reduction of budgets for the states to the country’s highest legislative forum,” he stated.
The federal deputy said that they will also seek a response from the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit regarding the reasons and criteria used to reduce Durango’s resources.
He insisted that although the official justification is that the adjustments were applied to different states because of lower revenue availability, it should not be overlooked that local economies are different and that a reduction can represent a much greater impact for entities such as Durango.
They Seek to Strengthen the 2027 Budget
Finally, Yáñez Cuéllar assured that he will continue working to promote a larger budget for Durango in 2027 and, at the same time, monitor that reductions affecting the state’s projects and programs are not made during the budget year.
He reiterated that it is not acceptable that after conducting a legislative analysis, discussing, and approving a budget, resources are continuously reduced during the year, whether monthly or every two months. “It is a slap in the face for Durango what the Fourth Transformation government is doing by reducing it month after month or every two months,” he stated.
Source: meganoticias
