SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A leader of the opposition-dominated
legislature criticized Puerto Rico's governor of recommending an "irresponsible"
budget based on election-year politics and not on the fiscal health of the U.S.
commonwealth.
House President Jose Aponte, who has repeatedly bickered with Gov. Anibal
Acevedo Vila, called on the first-term governor to step down from the island's
No. 1 political post for turning in a US$9.4 (euro6 billion) budget that does
not concisely detail each allocation and spending cut.
Aponte's latest call for Acevedo's resignation came a few days after the
governor urged lawmakers to put aside political differences and approve his
proposed budget, which includes a call for a 5 percent reduction in spending --
all in the executive branch.
In his final budget address Thursday before November elections, Acevedo
described his recommended plan as necessary to help weather a darkening economic
storm in the U.S. island, which is struggling through a second year of
recession, exacerbated by a slowdown on the mainland.
In a "state of the territory" speech two months ago, Acevedo, who favors the
island's current commonwealth status, pressed lawmakers to cut an unpopular 7
percent sales tax to 2.5 percent to invigorate the local economy. The bicameral
legislature has yet to take up the measure.
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