Budget 2025: Deputies challenge Javier Milei with extension of sessions

This is an open challenge to the pen of Javier Milei, the only one authorized to call extraordinary sessions once the ordinary period ends next Wednesday the 30th. However, from the radical bloc of Democracy Forever, they are promoting a draft resolution to extend the ordinary sessions invoking article 63 of the National Constitution.

It is the condition that they will impose in today’s parliamentary work meeting at 10:30 to enable a quorum in the session called by Freedom Advances and PRO to debate the “clean record” project.

The announcement by the National Executive Branch to unexpectedly adjourn the meeting of the Budget and Finance Commission yesterday broke the political truce with the governors in Congress and now, as a return of kindness, the opposition was causing the session called for this afternoon to fail. the officialdom.

Deputies: deadline expires

Today is the deadline for signing opinions in committee and the regular sessions end on Wednesday of next week. Unless Javier Milei signs a decree calling for extraordinary sessions starting in December, the Chambers would not operate again until March 1 of next year.

With the Government willing to go to war with the governors in order to further cut spending and maintain the fiscal path, the ruling party will only call extraordinary meetings in the event of reaching an agreement in principle, for now distant, with the provinces on the distribution of budget items for 2025.

Yesterday Santiago Caputo received at Casa Rosada Martin Menem already José Luis Espert. He also participated Guillermo Francos. There it was decided to adjourn the commission meeting in Deputies to avoid an open defeat of the Government that was left without signatures to obtain a majority opinion on the Budget.

Libertad Avanza was going to be isolated, even without the support of the PRO nor the UCRfor the signing of the office and was on track to have the second minority opinion behind Unión por la Patria and the Together for Change conglomerate.

Despite having been received by Milei, the “dialogue” governors of the PRO, the UCR and the provincial parties did not make progress in the negotiation of the Budget. They even reproach the Casa Rosada for having granted greater financial aid to Peronist provinces than to their districts.

“It’s been months since They are telling us that they are going to comply with the debts that correspond by lawby co-participation and by pre-existing agreements. But after voting for everything in Congress, the ATN were all for wig Peronism,” they roar near a governor allied with the Casa Rosada.

Governors’ claims

The menu of governors’ demands that Javier Milei is not willing to grant for now includes funds regulated by law and co-participation items. And they assure that it does not alter the fiscal balance. However, the Executive replies that they prefer “not to have a Budget rather than approve a bad Budget.” Among the demands of the dialogue leaders appear:

• Financing of the deficit of the provincial provisional funds not transferred in accordance with the fiscal pacts. The Government, for now, does not move from the $254 million allocated
• Financing of the compensation of the 2017 Fiscal Pact
• Eliminate the specific effects of the fuel tax whose funds, in the opinion of the governors, are underexecuted. They want them to participate
• Reduction of the contribution made by the provinces of the co-participating funds to finance the AFIP (now ARCA)
• Co-participation of undistributed Treasury Contributions (ATN)

At the request of their governors, Mauricio Macri’s PRO and Rodrigo de Loredo’s UCR left the special session called by the opposition to put limits on the DNU last week without a quorum. the main instrument of government of Javier Milei before the parliamentary minority that it holds in both chambers of Congress. It was a kindness in exchange for bringing positions closer together within the framework of the Budget negotiation. A week later, the governors are about to run out of the budget items they negotiated and they also failed to limit the President’s signature of DNU. Complete business for the Casa Rosada.

However, the National Executive Branch is analyzing what the impact of the governor could be for the second consecutive year without a Budget. A virtual “shutdown” to Argentina that implies the partial closure of different sectors and areas of public administration, beyond the power of PEN to extend the deadline again. Budget 2023 and discretionally dispose of budget funds. They also fear that the lack of political sustainability of the fiscal course will impact the markets, and especially, in the negotiations with the IMF regarding next year’s debt maturities. That is why they have not yet ruled out calling extraordinary sessions to advance the negotiation with the provinces during the summer.

No Budget 2025

While the Government, and the governors, analyze this new scenario, the radicals of Democracia para Forever will ask that a draft resolution be debated today to extend the ordinary sessions until December 31 with the aim of being able to approve the Budget.

“Both Chambers will meet by themselves in ordinary sessions every year from March 1st to November 30th. They may also be extraordinarily convened by the President of the Nation or their sessions may be extended,” establishes Article 63 of the National Constitution. that the radicals cite to support their project.

“The doctrine has been largely consistent in interpreting that the Chambers can resolve the extension of their ordinary sessions, in harmony with the implicit powers of section 32 of article 75, with the exclusive power of the President of the Nation to call extraordinary sessions, without prejudice to the letter of article 99, section 9.[1] and 100, inc. 8[2]. Admitting the opposite, that is, that only the Executive Branch can extend ordinary sessions, would lead to a case of explicit violation of the interdependence of the powers of the State, subordinating the powers of one of them (in this case the Legislature) in favor of another, in clear contradiction with the republican system that our country has adopted since its origin,” read the foundations of the draft resolution signed by the twelve radical deputies such as Fernando Carbajal, Pablo Juliano, Marcela Coli, Carla Carrizo, Danya Tavela, Facundo Manes, Jorge Rizzotti, Manuel Aguirre, Marcela Antola, Juan Carlos Polini, Mariela Coletta and Melina Giorgi.