'Ley de Bases' and fiscal package: Senate approves RIGI, privatisations, delegation of powers
The vice president broke a 36-36 vote and the bill’s modifications will return to the lower house once individual chapters are discussed.
“Today, we have two Argentinas,” Villarruel said as she cast her vote. “A violent Argentina that burns a car, throws stones, and debates the exercise of democracy,” she said, in reference to the protests that took place throughout the day outside Congress.
“The other is that of workers, who hope with great pain that what they voted in November be respected. For those Argentines who suffer, who don’t want to see their children leave the country, my vote is affirmative.”
Although approved as a whole, senators are set to vote on each individual chapter of the bill by midnight. A separate fiscal package was still being debated with no timeline for a vote at the time of writing: the session is expected to continue into the early hours of Thursday.
The controversial bill will now return to the lower house, which will vote on whether to approve the modifications.
If approved by deputies, the version of the bill approved by the senate becomes law. The Chamber of Deputies can also reject the changes approved by the senate, in which case the version originally approved by the lower house becomes law.
Nationwide cacerolazos erupted at 8 p.m. after protesters opposing the Ley Bases outside Congress were met with escalating repression tactics by multiple security forces throughout the day.
The session
The session began minutes after 10 a.m. when 37 senators, the minimum number needed for quorum, took their seats. All PRO, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), and Unión Cívica Radical senators were present. Unón por la Patria (UxP) lawmakers and two senators from Santa Cruz province were the only ones absent, but later sat down after the session officially began.
The government agreed to make some crucial changes in order to get more support. LLA Senator Bartolomé Abdala, who is in charge of informing the state of the bills before the proper debate begins, announced that some highly contested articles would be modified or dropped.
The ruling coalition decided to eliminate an article that would have ended a pension moratorium that allowed people of retirement age who did not have the required 30 years of contributions the possibility of “purchasing” the number of years they lacked in order to retire.
They also left airline Aerolíneas Argentinas, mail company Correo Argentino and Radio y Televisión Argentina — an entity grouping state-owned media outlets — from the list of public companies to be privatized. Energy provider Energía Argentina and Intercargo — a company that provides airport boarding and baggage services — would still be completely privatized, while others, such as water-providing company AYSA, would be up for concession.
Public institutions related to culture, science, and technology would also be excluded from an article that allows Milei to eliminate or modify public entities.
UCR Senator Martín Lousteau, one of the few lawmakers whose vote is still unknown, criticized several aspects of the bills in his opening presentation. “There is almost nothing in these laws that could benefit the middle class, small and medium businesses, or pensioners,” he said.
“Almost every part of the Ley Bases aims at building privilege for a small minority, defending the big fish and neglecting the week.” Lousteau proposed voting on an alternative final version of the bills’ texts that differs from the agreement reached two weeks ago in commissions.
Protests on the street
Thousands of people are protesting the bills outside Congress during the session. Unions and social movements tried to make their way to the Dos Congresos square carrying large banners amid the heavy mist that engulfed Buenos Aires in the early morning hours.
The Naval Police gassed demonstrators, among them journalists and Unión por la Patria deputies Eduardo Valdés, Carlos Castagnetto, Leopoldo Moreau, Juan Manuel Pedrini, Carolina Yutrovic, and Luis Basterra. The five of them were taken to the Santa Lucia Hospital.
The front of the square has been fenced down since early Wednesday. At around 8:30 a.m., Buenos Aires City police overseeing the situation were seen taking pictures of the banners. Several federal police cars were also parked in the streets surrounding the building.
Eva Loperena is a political and social activist from Movimiento Evita and was among the first dozen protesters to arrive in front of Congress. “Both the Ley Bases and [Milei’s] presidential decree deeply affect me and the movement I am part of. It represents a huge stepback in terms of labor rights,” she said.
“The fact that foreign companies would be able to come here and not generate any revenue for Argentina is an atrocity,” she said, referencing the Incentive Framework for Large Investments (RIGI, by its Spanish initials) that would be created if the Ley Bases is approved.
The government, which this week marked six months in office without the passage of a single piece of legislation, faced demonstrations by unions and left-wing groups against the reform package outside the National Congress building as the upper house opened debate.
"The effort made by Argentines in these months is enormous, we hope [with this bill] to lay the foundations for progress," said ruling party senator Bartolomé Abdala (La Libertad Avanza-San Luis Province) in his opening speech.
If the nation’s senators approve the so-called ‘omnibus’ bill, which received the green light from the Chamber of Deputies in April, the text of the proposed legislation – which contains more than 200 articles and will be subjected to amendments – will return to the lower house for final approval.
The Legislative Assembly has been a far from happy hunting ground for Milei's La Libertad Avanza party, which is firmly in the minority in both chambers.
Milei’s ‘Ley de Bases’ bill is a much-reduced version of an original bill that contained more than 600 articles. That was withdrawn by the government back in February after it was heavily amended by the lower house.
Argentina’s President responded angrily to that setback, describing Congress as a “rat’s nest,” and slamming its legislators and the nation’s provincial governors.
In the Senate, La Libertad Avanza holds just seven of the 72 seats. It needs 37 votes for the bill to be approved and currently has around 35 secured, thanks to the support of centre-right and right-wing senators.
If the bill is rejected, Milei will have to wait at least a year to push it through again. Such an outcome would further weaken the President.
"For six months they have been discussing the 'Bases' law, which would have made the adjustment less painful, but politics doesn't care about that," Milei said on Wednesday at a forum in Buenos Aires.
He is due to depart Argentina shortly for a tour of Europe, during which he will attend the G7 Leaders Summit in Italy as a special invitee.
In recent weeks, Milei’s government has come under pressure due to developments at the Human Capital Ministry, which brings together four portfolios plus the ANSES social security administration.
Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello is under fire after the discovery of 5,000 tonnes of food that was being held in storage. The government refused to send food to soup kitchens and community kitchens, but backtracked after it emerged that some foodstocks were perishable.
This scandal occurs with Argentina in the grip of nearly 300 percent annualised inflation. Around half the population lives in poverty, consumption is falling and there has been a sharp drop in industrial activity.
Some experts say the President needs a political victory to offset the impact of the draconian fiscal austerity measures he has implemented since taking office last December.
"From the IMF [International Monetary Fund] to foreign investors, many actors say that, for Milei's proposal to be credible, laws from Congress are needed, agreements are needed, a more or less functioning state is needed," said Iván Schuliaquer, a political scientist at the University of San Martín in Buenos Aires Province.
The ‘Ley de Bases’ bill delegates extraordinary powers to the executive, includes a controversial incentive scheme for large investments and sets up around a dozen public companies for privatisation.
During the initial hours of debate on Wednesday, ruling party lawmakers indicated they would be willing to remove state airline Aerolíneas Argentinas, the Correo Argentino post office and Radio y Televisión Argentina from the list of state firms to be sold off in order to secure the bill’s passage.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo said on Tuesday that the law is "an accelerator, an enhancer of the recovery of the economic situation.”
The Senate will also debate a tax reform bill in parallel, which includes the reinstating of income tax on salaries and pensions.
Teachers and state employees have called a strike against the reform bill, while social organisations, political parties, trade unions, retirees and members of civil society have called for ongoing protests near Congress during the debate.
Both the ‘Ley de Bases’ bill and its accompanying fiscal package will be debated separately, with senators set to vote on them chapter-by-chapter.
The vote on the main bill is expected to take place late Wednesday night or in the early hours of Thursday morning...
