Unión por la Patria and the UCR entered into a fight with an uncertain ending in the Chamber of Deputies, with two sessions requested for this Tuesday. The firstat 11, was requested by radicalism to vote on a recomposition of retirement benefits; and the second, at 14, was promoted by Kirchnerism to also treat andl university financing and the restitution of the Fonid(National Teacher Incentive Fund).
All initiatives subject to a veto by President Javier Milei for its fiscal impact.
The Kirchnerist bloc is willing to guarantee a quorum in the radical session for the retirement issue, which will not have help from La Libertad Avanza or the PRO. However, They demand that the UCR return the favor and include educational projects, given that the second call could be neutralized if the first lasts for many hours.
“We want to be there, but they have to allow there to be a diverse agenda, supported by several,” they told this medium.
The head of the radical caucus, Rodrigo De Loredo, resists expanding the agenda. He believes that the university budget law lost meaning after the agreement between the Government and the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) for a 270% increase in operating expenses. And it would not collaborate with the reestablishment of the FONID, which implies, according to official calculations, an expense of up to 1.4 billion pesos for the Nation.
“We don’t see the need to put everything in on the same day,” they excuse themselves near the Cordoban.
Nevertheless, De Loredo suffers from double pressure, internal and external. On the one hand, there are deputies from their bloc who do not want to let go of the educational agenda and could join Kirchnerism. Added to this is the pressure coming from the provinces, without political distinction, to revive the FONID, which financed between 10% and 15% of teacher salaries.
Double session in Deputies in the midst of the university strike
And if that was not enough, everything will happen in the midst of a 48-hour national strike by university teachers demanding salary improvements.
Last week, Ministers of Education from all over the country sent notes to deputies asking them to “immediately” approve the replacement of the FONID. There were two letters that this media accessed: one was signed by the provinces governed by Together for Change, and the other, by the districts commanded by Unión por la Patria and local forces, among which are Córdoba, Misiones, Neuquén , Río Negro and Salta (their deputies are scattered in the We Make Federal Coalition and Federal Innovation blocks).
In Unión por la Patria they do not let it slip that the UCR signed its own opinions in the commissions, thus enabling debate on the premises.
The Fonid, another key axis of the double session in Deputies
In the case of Fonid, he proposed reestablishing it until the provinces agree on a replacement mechanism; and regarding the university budget, he suggested adapting the items to the accumulated inflation of 2023 and updating them bimonthly by CPI (Consumer Price Index) until the end of the year. This last opinion was signed before the Government sealed an agreement with the CIN.
“It is inconceivable that they do not want to address these two issues,” complained an important source from Unión por la Patria in dialogue with this medium. Given radicalism’s refusal to expand the session’s agenda, Kirchnerism could ask that the issue be resolved in the chamber. This motion requires approval by three-quarters of the vote.; Although they would not reach that number, the move would serve to expose the deputies who are against.
On the retirement issue, Unión por la Patria, the UCR and Hacemos agree on granting a recomposition of 8% due to the change in formula and updating salaries monthly by CPI, but the people of Córdoba aligned with Governor Martín Llaryora, who make up the Hacemos bloc, They are pressing with a proposal not endorsed by Kirchnerism to finance, through the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS) of the ANSES, the provincial funds not transferred to the Nation, and settle lawsuits against retirees with a final sentence.
As if something were missing in a scenario as complex as it is uncertain, in the session the issue of the crisis in the Ministry of Human Capital promises to explode due to the lack of food delivery to the canteens. The toughest opposition is targeting Sandra Pettovello and will come forward with speeches on the premises. At the same time, the president of the Health Commission, the Peronist from Tucuman Pablo Yedlin, called a meeting for this Wednesday in order to discuss six requests for reports from the official (five from Kirchnerism and one multi-party led by the neuroscientist Facundo Manes).
