▲ Demonstrations during the debate on the Expenditure Budget in the Chamber of Deputies. In the gallery, PRI member Rubén Moreira.Photo Yazmín Ortega Cortés
▲ Morena deputies show banners during the intervention of PAN members in the gallery.Photo Yazmín Ortega Cortés
Enrique Méndez and Fernando Camacho
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, November 5, 2025, p. 5
The Chamber of Deputies generally approved the opinion of the Expenditure Budget of the Federation (PEF) 2026, which includes funds for 10 billion 193 thousand 683 million pesos, and it is expected that in today’s discussion in particular a cut of 17 thousand 789.1 million pesos will be applied to the Judiciary, the National Electoral Institute (INE), the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic (FGR), which will be reassigned to priority areas.
The Judiciary would be the main one affected by the reduction in its spending, with more than 15.8 billion pesos. Around one billion will be reduced to the INE and almost 900 million to the FGR.
Reassignments
The cut of 17,789.1 million pesos would be reallocated to the ministries of Agriculture, Labor, Education – including increases to high schools and universities, mainly Guadalajara –, Environment, Science and Technology, and Culture. The latter considers recovering resources for the national institutes of Fine Arts and Anthropology and History.
Still without changes, the plenary session generally approved the ruling with 358 votes in favor of Morena and its allies and 133 against the opposition. The board of directors announced that the benches reserved the entire document and the annexes, and it was reported that 1,733 reservations were presented with 216 speakers. After voting in general, the table opened a recess and the session will resume this Wednesday at 9 a.m.
“Historical expenditure”
In a session in which the National Action (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary (PRI) and Citizen Movement (MC) parties questioned with separate interventions the drop in spending in areas such as health and public security, as well as high debt, the majority bloc defended “historic spending.”
The budget “seeks to consolidate a balanced and responsible budget, which supports President Claudia Sheinbaum’s project and guarantees development and stability for Mexico,” said Morena coordinator Ricardo Monreal Ávila.
Deputies from that bench and its allies highlighted as one of the main components of spending, the amount of 987 thousand 160 million pesos for social programs, 14.2 percent more than this year. When explaining the impact of public spending for the following year, the president of the Budget Commission, Merilyn Gómez Pozos, indicated that it will respond to the scenario of international commercial and financial instability.
The PEF “has been designed to respond with prudence, a future horizon and firmness… each peso is aimed at guaranteeing that progress is not a privilege, but a right. And that commitment is translated into concrete decisions, in assignments that reflect the human face of development,” he added.
In turn, the coordinator of the Labor Party, Reginaldo Sandoval Flores, pointed out that the spending “parts from a responsible macroeconomic framework” and is built on the estimate of GDP growth between 1.8 and 2.8 percent, average annual inflation of 3.5 percent and the exchange rate forecast of 19.3 pesos per dollar. “This provides certainty, under moderate and prudent assumptions,” he indicated.
In the discussion, the deputy economic coordinator of the PAN, Héctor Saúl Téllez, criticized the fact that a specific fund for health was not considered, despite the increase in the special tax on production and services for soft drinks. He insisted that there is a cut of 5 billion pesos for free medicines and reiterated that the budget is also supported by 1.8 billion of new debt, which will reach 20.3 billion, which “completely mortgages the future of young people.”
Meanwhile, Jericó Abramo (PRI) endorsed his proposal to cut 50 billion pesos from Petróleos Mexicanos to allocate it to security in states and municipalities, and maintained his request to separate the approval of spending in blocks. The country requires “a parliament that is less hateful, with less venom and that builds,” he declared.
At the closing of the 43 speakers on the platform, Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar (Morena) highlighted that his party ratifies its policy of “being totally and absolutely dedicated to the fight for well-being and eradicating inequality in the country… so that it is more fair and egalitarian, with fewer poor people and greater investment. And we are going to achieve it.”
