Goodbye to the $ 351,000 subsidy for Colombians from stratum 1 and 2: Chamber knocked down the basic income project

They knocked down the bill on basic income in the Third Commission of the House of Representatives. It was a monthly subsidy of $ 351,000 for all Colombians of legal age in strata 1 and 2.

The initiative that was supported by congressmen from Colombia Humana, the Green Alliance and liberals, claimed that The National Government will implement a monthly monetary income for a term not exceeding 12 years, prioritizing the population of levels 1 and 2 of Sisbén, through the ‘solidarity income’ program, which currently provides just $ 160,000 per household.

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Given this result, representative David Racero affirmed: “It is still shameful how congressmen continue to refuse to legislate for the impoverished majorities of the country. They deny increasing the misery of ‘solidarity income’ that does not even reach the extreme poverty line per person while they do not blush to receive the millionaire sums they earn for representation expenses, bonuses and salary increases “.

Also on his Twitter account, Racero questioned: “Politicians say in campaign that they fight against corruption and that the poverty of the country hurts them. But once elected, they can’t wait to steal and say that the poor are already given a lot. How is it possible that they accept that $ 160 thousand of Solidarity Income per household is enough? “.

There were a total of 18 votes against legislators from various parties such as the Democratic Center, Radical Change, the Conservative Party, the U Party, Radical Change, among others. Against five votes in favor that came from the opposition parties.

According to a concept sent to Congress by the Ministry of Finance, the bill did not stipulate the definition of “Vulnerable Person” so the targeting of aid could be affected.

“With regard to the second point (vulnerable person), it should be taken into account that according to the national survey of household budgets (ENPH) carried out by Dane in 2016-2017, around 33.5 million people ( approximately 9.5 million households) in the country would be in a situation of poverty or vulnerability and would correspond to the population expected to be covered by the legislative initiative “, reads the text sent by the Treasury portfolio.

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There the Ministry also added that “The monthly cost of the initiative is equivalent to 98% of the total annual budget assigned to the Defense sector and 78% of that assigned to the Education sector in the PGN 2020. Likewise, it is noted that the quarterly cost is indicated as an example, since that no time limit is defined in which the transfer will be maintained “.

It should be remembered that in June 2020 the basic income proposal promoted by Senator Iván Marulanda also collapsed. For now, there are three other bills on this issue in Congress, which were filed at the beginning of the legislature.