Milei’s ‘omnibus law’ prepares for key vote in Argentine Congress

The ‘omnibus law’ project promoted by the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, will be submitted this Tuesday to an “article by article” discussion in the Chamber of Deputies, a procedure that tests the negotiating capacity of the ruling party before submitting the initiative to the Senate.

After three days of a tense debate last week in the plenary session of the Lower House, the draft Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines was approved in general last Friday by 144 votes in favor and 109 against. .

But the far-right ruling party La Libertad Avanza, the third minority in Parliament, chose to postpone the vote in particular – article by article – on the initiative until this Tuesday, when the session in the Lower House resumes at 2:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT).

The ruling party thus decided to gain time to negotiate with sectors of the opposition considered ‘dialogueists’ – who already supported the project in general – the necessary support for the vote on the articles of the initiative, which lays the foundations of Milei’s libertarian government program and which is flatly rejected by the parliamentary blocs of the left and the Peronist Union for the Homeland front (first minority).

After cutting the original project by almost a third, for the general vote the ruling party had the support of the allied Republican Proposal bloc (Pro, center-right) and the opposition forces Radical Civic Union, We Make Federal Coalition and Federal Innovation.

But among the latter there are parliamentarians who refuse to vote in favor of certain very controversial articles, specifically the granting of broad powers to the Executive to govern and carry out profound reforms, not only economic, but also social, in an extremely difficult context. , with public accounts in the red, a stagnant economy, skyrocketing inflation and increasing poverty.

They are the tools that Milei claims he needs to get the country out of its “decadence”, but his claims are met with the refusal of opposition sectors that are not willing for Parliament to delegate extraordinary powers to him in broad areas of the Administration to dictate measures. without the need to be approved by Congress.

There is also strong resistance to giving the Executive free rein to privatize nearly 40 state companies.

The text with the articles that are finally approved in the particular vote will be sent to the Senate for processing, first in committees and then, if a positive opinion is obtained, in the plenary session.

There the ruling party, in a minority, will have a major challenge. The Senate is the chamber of legislative representation of the provinces of Argentina, none of them governed by libertarians.

In this instance, the negotiation of the Executive with the provincial governors will be key, who, in the midst of the strong fiscal adjustment undertaken by Milei, demand from the Government a greater distribution with the provinces of the collection of certain federal taxes, a discussion that the Executive intends leave for later, once its famous ‘omnibus law’ is approved.