The newly appointed Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos said on Tuesday that there could be a ruling regarding the omnibus bill and the tax reform, at the plenary of committees of the Senate on Wednesday, although he later admitted that senators will make the decision during the session.
After meeting with head of the Senate and Vice President Victoria Villarruel; Provisional President Bartolomé Abdala and Senators Ezequiel Atauche, Juan Carlos Romero, Carlos Arce, Carlos Espínola, Luis Juez and Eduardo Vischi, among others, Francos provided details of the encounter.
“There is a committee ruling prepared, with enough signatures to have it approved”, Francos first said, but later added: “Senators will decide on Wednesday whether they back that ruling so the project can be treated on the Senate floor”.
“We’ve had meetings and we’ve taken into account many items suggested by the various organizations that came to Senate during this last month. And I believe we’ve reached enough consensus to have a ruling”, he said.
Changes in the bill
When asked about the changes introduced to the bill, the Cabinet Chief admitted that “it is never possible to reach absolute agreements” and that the national administration “accepts what it thinks acceptable”.
Concerning these issues, he said that the Executive Branch intends to move forward with the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas and Correos (The Argentinian national Mail company), even though most legislators disagree with the government on this matter.
“We expect a ruling. We’ll have to see whether senators agree or not in their final negotiations”, Francos said and finally admitted: “If we don’t get a ruling, we’ll continue waiting for a ruling”.
After the meeting, the Cabinet Chief went back to Casa Rosada, from where he will continue monitoring the negotiations.
A new plenary session is scheduled for Wednesday at 3PM. The committees that will discuss the proposed bill are General Legislation, Budget and Finance, and Constitutional Affairs. At 5PM, the committee of Budget and Finance will discuss the tax reform.
Last Monday, in conversation with Radio 10, Senator and chief of the Unión por la Patria Senate bloc José Mayans said that, if the omnibus bill is approved without changes, “all provinces will be in the same situation as Misiones”, in reference to the protests for better wages carried out by various sectors, in particular the police.
The ruling party has already accepted several changes proposed by the opposition sector with which it has good dialogue. These changes concern the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI), the labor reform, the reform of the State and money laundering, but it is still uncertain what the future will be for other proposed changes.
During the weekend, former president and newly appointed leader of PRO Mauricio Macri spoke about the omnibus bill and wrote on his X account: “Time is not endless. We must be generous and support reforms that we believe are urgent and structural, even though they have been proposed by another party”, thus guaranteeing his party’s support to the bill.
When the projects reach the Senate floor, which could be June 6, if the ruling is approved on Wednesday, several sectors of the opposition are planning to march to Congress under the slogan “Stop the bill”.