After the tie of 36 votes in favor and 36 against, Vice President Villarruel twisted the vote and approved the Law sent by the ruling party.
18:26 | Friday June 14, 2024 | La Rioja, Argentina | Fenix Multiplatform
This Wednesday night, despite the protests and demonstrations outside Congress, the Upper House approved the General Base Law, which will now return to Deputies. After a tie of 36 votes in favor and 36 against, Vice President Victoria Villarruel broke the tie with an affirmative vote. Regarding the national senators for the province of La Rioja, the libertarian Juan Carlos Pagotto voted in favor of the law, while Florencia López and Fernando Rejal, from Unión por la Patria, voted against.
With last-minute changes, the ruling party achieved general approval of the Base Law project promoted by the Executive, granting the first law to President Javier Milei, after six months of administration. When presenting his vote, and despite the fact that speeches are not allowed in that instance by regulation, Villarruel expressed: “Today we saw a violent Argentina and an Argentina of workers who ask that the vote that, in November of last year, be respected, “he chose a change.” It should be noted that the vice president, when speaking of a “violent Argentina,” was referring to the citizens who, in the streets, exercised their legitimate right to protest; and not to the security forces, who did unleash harsh and unjustified violence on the protesters, repressing them with tear gas and rubber bullets.
After passing through the Upper House, the Base Law was approved in general, without privatizations, with limitations in the RIGI and without the elimination of the pension moratorium; and now the ruling party aims for the Lower House to insist on the original project and discard the unwanted emergency concessions. In fact, part of the ruling party’s strategy was to enable more changes, since this allowed senators to vote in favor of the initiatives, and prevented them from shielding the rejection with two-thirds, knowing that Deputies can undo it.
Representing the citizens of La Rioja, the libertarian senator Juan Carlos Pagotto voted in favor, while the Peronists Fernando Rejal and Florencia López voted against. «I would be ashamed to return to La Rioja and say that I gave my powers to the Terminator because he came from the apocalyptic future to defend Argentina. “He wouldn’t show his face to me,” declared Senator López during the parliamentary debate, in reference to recent statements by President Javier Milei, who compared himself to the character in the famous movie. «In six months he could not solve any of the country’s problems. He suffocated the provinces, did not send legitimate funds and deepened unemployment with more than 100,000 fewer jobs. In La Rioja, we lost 10,000 jobs in the Industrial Park,” denounced the legislator.
The Base Law that the Senate approved yesterday will enable Milei to advance with the reform of the State, reorganize the public administration, privatize some companies and open the country to large foreign and national investments, with strong tax benefits. It only remains to define whether Deputies will accept all or some of the modifications ordered by the Senate, or if they will insist on the original wording.
