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It was already past two in the morning on Friday when Sergio Massa he hit his elbow with that of Maxim Kirchner. For twenty minutes they discussed the economic effects of the pandemic (such as the sharp drop in revenue) rather than the long session that had just ended after nine hours and 45 minutes of debate. Alone they pointed out as a positive gesture the consensus reached with the opposition. And they celebrated having achieved three half-measures of laws that will have an impact on people’s daily problems in the hours prior to the presidential announcement of deepening isolation in the AMBA region. Neither of them expressed it, but the image was so different from what happened 24 hours earlier in the Senate that even the opposition paid internal costs. In that talk alone they exchanged opinions on how to help Axel Kicillof in the control of circulation and transport.
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Last Thursday at noon, almost 100 days after the beginning of the social and compulsory isolation, the heads of all the blocks agreed in Deputies that the remote operation protocol would be in force until that session that started at 16:15 and ended in the early morning of Friday. For some it was already overdue, but they turned a blind eye and counted only the working days so that they would give the accounts in favor of the advance of the laws that regulate telework and the new law of the knowledge economy. The deputies are convinced that they will be instruments that generate employment and foreign exchange earnings. A law was also voted to raise awareness of the benefits of the plasma donation that he wrote Maxim Kirchner and that for the good offices of Cristian Ritondo and Carmen Polledo In Together for Change, it managed to unify with other initiatives. The radical Mario Negri In this sense, he vindicated the young Josefina Mendoza, a deputy and a brand-new mother, who already on May 7 had proposed the donation of plasma along with other legislators from the same party.
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However, before the session there was tension. The echo of the anger of Together for Change in the Senate was filtered where Kirchnerism advanced without consensus with the creation of a Bicameral commission to investigate the loans that Banco Nación granted in the last four years to the Vicentin company. The idea does not include the possibility of delving into the credits that the management of Cristina Fernández it gave to the same agro-exporter, in addition to another initiative of the ultrakirchnerista being prioritized Oscar Parrilli.
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“She builds power and breaks bridges, it is a way of building power,” reflected a PRO deputy who prefers dialogue and consensus in the context of the pandemic. They agreed with her who decided in Deputies to turn their backs on that dispute and move forward with their agenda. The only ones who got out of the script were Gabriela Cerruti, of the Front of All, and Fernando Iglesias, of the PRO. She claimed to discuss all kinds of initiatives, including Vicentin and the wealth tax, while he wanted to speak outside the agreement of the blocks and again denounced that Congress does not work just in a day where more than 250 deputies were connected for almost ten hours. In commissions there are almost 2000 projects entered so far in the pandemic. And almost always they have not only perfect assistance, but even deputies who do not integrate them participate but take advantage of the possibility of remote connection to be part of it.
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Immediately on Friday the three half sanctions were turned to the Senate. The same did not happen in reverse: the questioned investigative Bicameral did not reach the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation. Massa only received the letter from the heads of the UCR and PRO blocks warning of the invalidity of the parliamentary process. They argued that it requires two-thirds as if it were a House resolution. The Front of All, on the other hand, maintains that it is a bill that requires only the simple majority and that was promoted by law, such as the Bicameral that investigated the collapse of the ARA San Juan. In addition, from the ruling party they circulated the shorthand version of the session of December 17, 2014 in which Gerardo Morales and Miguel Pichetto They had this same discussion about a bicameral about HSBC bank. This week José Mayans, who was then vice of the block of the Front for Victory, used the same foundations that that day used the brand-new auditor and consulting man of Mauricio Macri.
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In Deputies there is no mathematical or political margin to reissue this battle. Massa is obliged to dialogue with Negri, Ritondo and Maximiliano Ferraro of the Civic Coalition and prefers not to waste time on palatial disputes that he does not always share. His speech within his own alliance will be that in the current context, only “for the people” issues should be discussed. It is the argument that he gave to Máximo Kirchner at dawn after showing him some praise on social networks. Kirchner is the only one in the family who does not have an account on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. And the Vice President’s own son was more empathetic and conciliatory than his mother.
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The ruling party in the lower house has a conditioning factor. With the protocol expired and the pressure of some senators of Together for Change on the block of deputies, the negotiation of the respective regulations for remote sessions would take place in parallel. The senator Stephen Bullrich, from PRO, asked to coordinate strategies. Except for issues that require two thirds of the votes, Kirchnerism has a quorum and a majority in the Senate, that is why they need the deputies to press on the other side of the Palace. Bullrich plays in tandem with Martin Lousteau that whenever she can she differs from Cristina Fernández. The exchanges between the porteño and the Vice President are already a classic in each session.
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In Deputies, on the other hand, the Front of All has 119 votes and Together for Change 116. It is essential to reach a consensus between both majority forces or between the FdT and the smaller parties that represent provincial forces and governors.
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After the announcement this Friday in both houses, they anticipated that they will adhere to the restrictions by COVID-19 and will maintain minimum guards. Probably for the next two weeks there will be no sessions, although Massa’s intention is to try to convene at least one and that the commissions continue to function. The Senate is well served a break to calm the restless spirits in the framework of a fight that started in the venue and spread in the media and on social networks.
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In one of his weekly meetings the President Alberto Fernández He anticipated to Massa that he will send a bill so that the budget expansion does not come out through DNU but with the vote of Congress. Without the 2020 Budget and after the controversy generated by DNU 457, which empowered the head of the Cabinet to dispose of items at the discretion, the head of state would prefer to change the instrument.
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For Together for Change, the session on Thursday 25 was a close 100 days after the start of the running of the bulls. They think it’s time to shuffle and give again. Until the picture is clearer, both the ruling party and the opposition prefer to pretend to be distracted by the ghosts that fly over them. When asked about the expropriation of Vicentin or the extraordinary contribution to the great fortunes, they reply that they are projects that have not been presented and warn that the remote system would not support sessions longer than this week. They cite as an example the fall of the system last Thursday, although it is also true that it restarted in a couple of minutes and there were no problems with the voting.
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“In times of pandemic there are issues that are fundamental and issues that are not,” he said. Cristian Ritondo head of the PRO bloc on Friday afternoon. Mario Negri, head of the Together for Change and UCR interblock, stayed in Córdoba but from there he continued all the negotiations and spoke several times with Massa and the rest of the block leaders. He is cautious and cautious about what is coming.
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Ritondo, for his part, warned: “We are going to go against the expropriation of Vicentin or any private company that is in bankruptcy.”
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And Álvaro González, vice president of the Chamber and of the circle closest to Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, told Infobae that the discussion on the continuity of the protocol depends on the deadlines for the resumption of the face-to-face sessions.
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To reach an agreement on the agenda and operation, Massa would cite a meeting of block chiefs by teleconference as a gesture to the Executive, which asked all powers to help reduce circulation. In this virtual meeting, in addition to the draft budget expansion bill (the current budget is for 2019 extended), it would propose consensus a moratorium for monotributistas and SMEs; the suspension of evictions of tenants and the unification of several projects that establish tax benefits and zero-rate credits for two of the hardest hit sectors, tourism and gastronomy. The budget expansion would be used to pay the Extraordinary Family Income (10,000 pesos for families with no blank income); ATP (payment of half salary to registered workers); retirements and also the works package for municipalities with collections and co-participation reduced by at least 50 or 60 percent. This time the government changed its mind and will try to vote a law.
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In the new stage that begins, the boys want to make their voices heard. From the block that has a line with Roberto Lavagna they have already been in favor of investigating the credits granted to Vicentin. But they will insist that the Bicameral was born badly. “Just as they created it, that commission will be very questioned, they continue to give arguments to the company,” said the lavagnista. Alejandro ‘Topo’ Rodríguez, who is willing to present a similar initiative to vote in Deputies and restart the process in the Senate as if the fights had not happened and with votes that leave no doubt about the legality or legitimacy of the body to be created.
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“Again the crack. On the one hand, those who refuse to investigate the Vicentin case when there are more than enough reasons to clarify the dark relationship with the Banco de la Nación (previous government). On the other side, those who want to force the investigation by going over legal procedures (current government) ”, Lavagna wrote after the tug.
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In Kirchnerism they do not pay much attention to the former Minister of Economy, but in the environment of President Alberto Fernández they do. Sometimes he officiates as mediator from that new avenue in the middle and helps the President to be more moderate. The President also knows that a part of society is beginning to lose patience.
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In order for Parliament not to be paralyzed, Deputies should advance along the same line of dialogue held so far, even when for teleworking laws, the knowledge economy and even the innocuous donation of plasma, there were some internal disputes in the blocks and who had to give in. “They are the possible laws, not the ones we want,” was heard as an argument when the differences seemed insurmountable. Some deputies from Together for Change laundered it on the premises, such as Karina Banfi, who in any case voted in favor. The same happened when the name of Miguel Ángel Pichetto was presented to occupy the vacant position in the Auditor General of the Nation. The Front of All overcame the discomfort of the moment and announced its abstention. Cecilia Moreau He assumed the voice of the block and questioned the former senator and former candidate for vice president of Mauricio Macri. Surely his speech had less criticism than those expressed by those closest to Cristina Kirchner.
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“They scratched our car a little bit,” accepted an important leader of Together for Change who took those words as part of the game of politics. Moreau said he expressed what his block felt, though he did much more than that: he became the protective shield of pride for Kirchnerism that this time silenced their microphones.
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