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The Mexican Senate voted on Wednesday (October 21) to pass a bill that cuts funding from 109 public trust funds, which the government pays into. These accounts provide consistent funding, unrelated to the national budget. About one-third of the $68 billion pesos ($2.5 billion US) from the government that would ordinarily go into these trusts each year supports scientific research, and the rest is for sports, health initiatives, protections for journalists, and disaster relief.
As the Associated Press reports, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for the cuts back in April, citing widespread corruption and doubt that the funds actually reach and benefit Mexican citizens. López Obrador has also said that the money is needed to support the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and that his administration inherited a lot of debt when he took office in 2018. According to The Guardian, $3 billion ...
