The Special Joint Budget Committee, made up of senators and deputies of the National Congress, rejected the resources contemplated in the National Budget Bill for 2025 for item 11 of the Ministry of National Defense of Chile, made up of the Armed Forces, administrative support agencies and other departments.
The vote had to be repeated twice and the final result was 9 votes in favor of approval, 11 against and two abstentions that added to the majority position of the negative. In this way, the resources for the Ministry of National Defense and programs of other portfolios rejected, must be replaced by the Government in the next stage of the legislative process.
In the report presented to the commission by the president of the Second Joint Budget Subcommittee, Deputy Gastón von Mühlenbrock, the objections of the legislators about the use of the resources of the Strategic Contingency Fund were raised only to the hypotheses of that rule and that they be kept in the Public Treasury since this would prevent taking advantage of opportunity purchases of weapons and generates the risk of not having those resources immediately available to face a war.
The parliamentarians questioned the number of 1,600 professional troops out of a total of 7,000 and half of the 12,500 conscripted soldiers financed by the 2025 Budget Bill for the Chilean Army. In this regard, the parliamentarians pointed out the need to seek adequate mechanisms to encourage young people to join the Armed Forces.