Bypassing congress, Maduro decrees Venezuela budget

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro issued the government’s 2017 budget by decree Friday, bypassing the opposition-held legislature in a move that could deepen the country’s economic crisis. “Here is the 2017 budget and debt law. May it be fulfilled. I ask for the support of the people, the military and the street,” Maduro said at a signing ceremony in Caracas attended by hundreds of supporters. The move came a day after Venezuela’s Supreme Court — which the opposition says is stacked with Maduro supporters — ruled that the leftist leader did not have to submit his budget to the National Assembly, despite a constitutional requirement to do so. More…