Despite the support of Unión por la Patria, the We Make Federal Coalition bloc failed in its attempt to advance with a new pension update formula in Deputies. The ruling party managed to frustrate the call by not reaching the 129 legislators necessary for a quorum.
After the 30-minute wait established by the regulations, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martin Menemof the 257 deputies, counted 119 legislators sitting on their benches, ten less than the simple majority necessary to enable the special session. Among those present were the federals, Peronism, the left and some radicals who respond to Facundo Manes. While There were 138 legislators who decided not to go down to the premises.
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Among the absences, those of La Libertad Avanza, the Pro and the majority of radicalism stood out, a space in which only 5 of 34 legislators appeared. The blocks of the Left Front, Unión por la Patria and HCF were present, although some of their members did not manage to reach the venue due to the cancellation of flights caused by the weather situation.
The session was developed with minority expressions, in a testimonial manner. A handful of deputies who did not initially have a quorum joined the room to listen to the debate. At one point, there were 126 legislators, three less than the minimum required to start. The result was a narrow failure of the session.
The decisive element in frustrating the call to the venue was the decision of the UCR block, which mostly decided to empty the venue. Only five wayward deputies led by Facundo Manes sat in the seats. It was known from early on that the block led by Rodrigo de Loredo, who goes out of his way to build bridges towards the ruling party after the guilty cry for not having been able to help the Government more with the first omnibus law, was going to hold back the quorum.
The fear of breaking the unstable truce launched by Javier Milei with the governors regarding the convening of the May Pact in Córdoba also weighed on several legislators who decided to be absent, where a new fiscal pact will be discussed that will give oxygen to the provinces.
A new snub towards the president could have detonated the bridges of dialogue, and the head of state already demonstrated after the omnibus law that he does not hesitate when it comes to punishing the provinces with reprisals. For this reason, the nine deputies from Federal Innovation, the interblock that brings together individual deputies who respond to the governments of Salta, Misiones, Neuquén and Río Negro, did not come to the venue.
The objective of the session
For We Make the Federal Coalition, the objective of the session was summon the Social Security and Social Security Commission so that it defines a work schedule and peremptorily sets a date for ruling.
“Retirees and pensioners cannot be held hostage to a legitimate fiscal dispute between the Nation and the provinces, simply because they cannot wait any longer,” said the HCF deputies in a statement released earlier today in which they ratified their decision to maintain “the session to try to summon the Forecast and Budget commissions so that they can rule on a modification of the current formula within a reasonable period of time.”
The text had also demanded that the Internal Security Commission be established to “work on the emergency that Rosario is experiencing,” and reaffirmed the space’s vocation to re-discuss the Omnibus Law.
Yesterday, the ruling party had called the Welfare and Social Security Commission to be formed on the afternoon of this Wednesday, with the aim of bringing down the session and not losing the initiative at the hands of the opposition in a matter that directly impacts the the Government’s fiscal account. The thing is that the Executive Branch does not want to lose control of the timing of the debate and intends to introduce the retirement reform within the new Bases law, which could enter Parliament in the coming days.
The version that is circulating is similar to the Civic Coalition project, based on monthly indexation for inflation, but with a recomposition of the salary floor of just 10%. The initiative that was going to be debated in the venue, whose author is Juan Manuel Lopez (HCF)contemplates a compensation of 20.6% to compensate for the real income losses of the first months of the year.
The government’s strategy of pressure on its moderate “opposition” partners bore fruit, since it managed to get the UCR, the PRO and Federal Innovation not to comply with the call made by HCF, which had the support of UxP. The block led by Germán Martínez, the largest in the Chamber, had committed to participating in the session since yesterday, and at least 92 of its 99 members sat on the benches to contribute to the quorum.
Minority expressions
Juan Manuel Lopez (HCF) regretted that part of the opposition had not collaborated with the quorum, and demanded that the Welfare and Social Security Commission quickly agree to provide an urgent solution to retirees.
“There is no sector of society that has been harmed more or that has to consume one of the goods that increased the most, which are medicines. We know that it is difficult for the President to be sensitive, to have empathy and to understand the situation of people who suffer. more than the rest, but we ask you to be intelligent, to continue this discussion of the tax dispute with the provinces and that we do not know when they will be resolved. Are the retirees going to be hostages to that discussion? They have nothing to do with that,” he noted.
Addressing Menem, the leader of the Civic Coalition demanded that he “do not continue to ignore the legitimate diversity of this body.” “Let’s move forward with the constitution of the commissions, do not be afraid of the parliamentary debate, which is the only thing that will bring this Congress and the entire Nation to a successful conclusion,” he concluded.
The next to speak was the socialist Monica Fein (HCF), who thanked “all the deputies who are here to discuss that retirees are not the ones who pay for this adjustment.” He also took the opportunity to raise concern about the alarming situation that the city of Rosario is experiencing in the midst of a wave of narco-terrorist violence that in the last week claimed several fatalities.
“We from Santa Fe and particularly those from Rosario came to add the declaration of security emergency in Rosario to the agenda,” recalled Fein, who mentioned a project authored by him and others of the deputies. Mario Barletta (UCR) and Germana Figueroa Casas (PRO).
The Santa Fe representative asked the rest of the political forces to accompany this initiative “overcoming any partisan view in defense of our people.” “The criminal organizations have wanted to give us a message to politics. They have told us that as long as you continue fighting, we are going to demand to be the owners of the city and the country,” she warned. Finally, she highlighted the “great effort” that the governor of his province is making, Maximiliano Pullaro, in the fight against drug trafficking, and accused Milei of “looking the other way” and “not taking responsibility.”
In turn, the head of the Union for the Homeland bloc, German Martinez, warned that “there is a kind of thematic restriction on the functioning of the commissions” that “we cannot allow.” Meanwhile, the Kirchnerist from Santa Fe requested that the Internal Security Commission be formed “urgently” within the Lower House and that it coordinate with Pullaro to “have a gesture” with his “beloved city” of Rosario.
LT