Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz told the governing parties on Monday that the 2027 Budget "is not set in stone", according to La Tercera. He made the remarks at La Moneda's expanded political committee meeting, and the outlet attributes the account to two sources familiar with the discussion.
The Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segpres), José García Ruminot, chaired the meeting. Claudio Alvarado, who heads both the Interior Ministry and the General Secretariat of Government (Segegob), did not attend. Cristián Valenzuela, La Moneda's director of Content and Communications, was present.
According to La Tercera, Quiroz conveyed that the bill's various budget allocations are open to review. The gesture seeks to reassure the governing parties' parliamentary groups, which have questioned some of the cuts in recent days.
The main source of discontent is education. The bill ends "Yo elijo mi PC", the program that provides computers to students through the National Board of School Assistance and Scholarships (Junaeb). This year, the program benefited 96,100 students.
The UDI parliamentary group rejected the measure in a statement. Its president, Deputy Guillermo Ramírez, welcomed the Finance Ministry's signal. "It seems entirely logical to me that this program should not disappear", he said.
RN Senator María José Gatica said they would seek to "improve" the bill. She also raised the possibility of transferring responsibility for distributing computers from the Education Ministry to the Science Ministry.
The undersecretary of the General Secretariat of Government, José Francisco Lagos, also left the door open. On CNN Radio, he said that "it would make no sense to rule it out in advance", because legislative deliberations had not even begun.
The issue puts the government in an awkward position. During the 2021 presidential campaign, José Antonio Kast promised on X "a computer with internet access for every child attending public education in Chile".
The cuts extend beyond computers. According to related articles, the bill leaves the Streets Without Violence plan without funding, after it received about $26,017 million in 2026. It also reduces regional revenues, cuts the number of fixed-term staff positions to 1,500 and freezes five Local Public Education Services (SLEP).
Later, in Congress, Quiroz reaffirmed his position, while setting a limit. He said they were open to reviewing the issues, "but always maintaining the overall constraint imposed by the macroeconomic objectives".
The committee also addressed disarray within the governing coalition. RN Deputy Diego Schalper said they had agreed on "greater coordination on budget matters". A proposal was also made for parliamentary group leaders and members of the Finance Committees to act as the coalition's spokespeople.
The parties asked Valenzuela for more briefing notes and communications guidance. According to La Tercera, some lawmakers privately complain that they were not given arguments to defend the cuts before criticism erupted.
The complaint has practical implications. Government lawmakers will have to negotiate with the opposition in the committees and provide the votes to pass the bill. Legislative deliberations are only just beginning, and the future of "Yo elijo mi PC" will be one of the first tests of that coordination.
