The beginning of the end of the
Omnibus Law
presented by Javier Milei's government does not have a particular article.
The warning that the ruling party did not heed was, in reality, for a paragraph.
The deputies had been in session for almost three hours when the debate reached
paragraph "h" of article 4
of the more than 500 that they had to discuss.
Then time stopped.
From the
Radical Civic Union and the We Make Federal Coalition bloc they raised warnings to the ruling party
.
But Freedom Advances did not heed the omens.
Three hours later, in a dead end, the Government returned the project to committee.
It was his political defeat.
The clock read 16:07.
After reading the complete article 4, the president of the radical group, Rodrigo De Loredo, proposed the approach and treatment section by section.
After an intervention by Christian Castillo of the FIT, Pablo Juliano spoke out and, along with Facundo Manes, was the radical who voted against the omnibus law in general.
On Tuesday, at the beginning of the debate in particular, he opposed the delegation of powers.
After warning in the committee work about that section 'h' and seeing that the ruling party remained inflexible, at 4:10 p.m. the radical
Carla Carrizo
warned that the UCR's position is "governance with control."
But
she called to vote against that subsection
, which especially refers to Trust Funds (FF).
"They have allowed the subsections to be voted on and that has made it possible to save article 4 of the delegation. I celebrate the wisdom of the ruling party in disaggregating that article because, otherwise, the law would probably be defeated. I
want to call on other blocks to vote against the subsection 'h'
, this subsection gives the Executive the arbitrary capacity to intervene in the 29 FFs and of course there are FFs that are bad, that are black holes, but there are some that are good," Carrizo assured at the venue.
The signs of bogging down were due to the fine print of the majority opinion.
"Transform, modify, unify or eliminate trusts or public trust funds created by regulations with legal status, including those intended for subsidies, review their origin and destination to achieve greater rationality, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and control of the use of public resources" , established that point of divergence,
the "h" section that marked the beginning of the end.
The FF created in the '90s by laws or decrees of necessity and urgency, in the midst of the reform of the Menemist State, have as their objective different promotions but must indicate the origin of the items.
Some trust funds, such as Direct Assistance to Victims of Trafficking - created in the Macri government - do not generate expenses for the State.
That, in particular, is maintained with the assets confiscated from those convicted of that same crime.
But the main criticism, which even the UCR highlights, is that there is no clear control or transparent methods.
Negotiations in the midst of the particular treatment of the omnibus law.
Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
Today there are 29 FFs, seven on economic development, six on social policies, three on the environment (such as the National Fire Management Fund), four on energy, three on transportation, two on infrastructure, another two on science, technology and communication and two on the field.
"We had to limit them, some to keep them and others to remove them. There are some that have financial autonomy, like that of victims of trafficking. We asked for clear regulations because we want a reform of the State that prevents the bad ones and strengthens the good FF. From the UCR We proposed to rescue about 14 and there could even be seven left, especially those for digital scholarships for children and those for entrepreneurs," says Carrizo when asked by
Clarín
.
He emphasizes that they had notified the ruling party of the meaning of the vote if they did not accept the modifications.
At 4:24 p.m., the former vice president, former governor of Mendoza and today radical deputy,
Julio Cobos, took the floor.
Another warning
came out of his mouth
to La Libertad Avanza: "I suggest to the ruling party that it remove subsection 'h' so as not to subject it to consideration, since we do not know what the result will be, which I believe will be rejection. But we We would save a vote and you would have the peace of mind of practically joint treatment.
The official bloc in the particular treatment of the omnibus law.
Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
The speeches were interrupted when Miguel Ángel Pichetto asked for a minute of silence for the death of former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera.
It was another impasse for the ruling party to review its position.
Then, several Kirchnerists spoke out against the entire article and another warning came, in this case from a Neuquén deputy from the Federal Innovation bloc, who responds to some of the governors.
Immediately, the former Santa Cruz president Sergio Acevedo, a member of the Por Santa Cruz bloc, also called to vote against section 'h'.
It was the fourth signal and he deepened the warning: he highlighted that in the mega DNU that President Javier Milei signed, the possibility of modifying the FF required by section 'h' is in force.
At 5:05 p.m., Nicolás Massot asked to speak to add a modification to section "h."
"Exclude from the provisions of this subsection the Trust Fund for provincial development created by Decree 286/95 and its amendments, the Federal Trust Fund for regional infrastructure created by Law 24,855," suggested the deputy of the We Make Federal Coalition bloc.
Julio Cobos, one of those who warned the ruling party in particular regarding the omnibus law.
Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
Massot's intervention was key.
The ruling party agreed to save 2 of the 29 FF as part of a negotiation with the provinces.
That provoked the reaction of the radical Martín Tetaz: "If everyone is going to start doing what they want with their trust funds, then let's all discuss. Everyone opens or none of them, if everyone negotiates in a province, it's barbaric, enough." .
At that time De Loredo proposed voting from sections 'a' to 'g'.
They were approved by 132 to 122. Then came the expected vote on section 'h'.
At 5:19 p.m., the ruling party received its first defeat, by 142 negative votes to 112 positive votes.
A difference of 30 votes, impossible to reverse without an agreement with more than one dialogue bloc.
The entire Union for the Homeland (98) voted against, 14 members of the We Make Federal Coalition bloc led by Pichetto, the 9 deputies of the Federal Innovation bloc - which responds to the governors -, the 5 of the Left Front and the 2 of Por Santa Cross.
Also 12 of the block of 34 radicals.
At the direction of President @JMilei, Minister @GAFrancosOk delivered to the head of the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation @MenemMartin the draft Law Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines.
pic.twitter.com/jM2hhMpRs6
— Ministry of the Interior (@MinInteriorAR) December 27, 2023
In addition, Carolina Piparo - former candidate for governor of Javier Milei in the province of Buenos Aires - and her sister-in-law, Lorena Macyszyn, who make up the Buenos Aires Libre bloc after the separation of La Libertad Avanza, opposed this section.
It was the only point that Piparo voted against the Omnibus Law that the Government sent to Deputies on December 27 of last year.
After this first setback, the treatment of article 5 ended up complicating the aspirations of the ruling party.
He had several more defeats in the step-by-step approach and at 6:30 p.m. Gabriel Bornoromi (La Libertad Avanza) asked for a 15-minute intermission.
The pause lasted more than 45 minutes.
At 7:19 p.m., the session resumed.
Oscar Zago, president of the ruling bloc, surprised by requesting the return of the project to commission, still with the famous paragraph 'h' included.
Thus, despite warnings and omens from dialogue blocs that he did not heed, the Government suffered its first severe defeat in Congress.