By Josefina Martina Pardo
A special session had been called for this Thursday, October 15, to address an agenda that included the Family Indebtedness Bill, Decree 70/2023 (DNU 70/2023, which was previously rejected by the Senate), and Law 27,793 declaring a National Disability Emergency, aiming to extend it until December 31, 2027.
However, the government managed to sink the session, falling eight lawmakers short of reaching the required quorum. The massive absence on the floor was led by La Libertad Avanza and the La Fuerza del Cambio bloc (PRO, UCR, MID, Adelante Bs. As., and Por Santa Cruz).
To secure its objective of collapsing the session, the administration struck a deal with its allies to introduce a cap on foreign land ownership into its own Inviolability of Private Property bill, which will be debated on October 21.
From the Unidos bloc—composed of Provincias Unidas—eight of its 18 legislators were absent, including Gisela Scaglia and José Nuñez from Santa Fe, who answer to Governor Maximiliano Pullaro; Alejandra Torres from Córdoba; Jorge Antonio Ávila from Chubut; Jorge Rizzotti and María Inés Zigarán from Jujuy; and Lourdes Arrieta from Mendoza. From the Innovación Federal bloc, Salta lawmaker Yolanda Vega, close to Governor Gustavo Sáenz, and Daniel Vancsik from Misiones were both absent. The three deputies from Independencia, who report directly to Tucumán Governor Osvaldo Jaldo, also skipped the session. From the Unión por la Patria bloc, Estela Mary Neder and Paulo Agustín Tita failed to attend.
While the 5th National University March unfolded outside Congress, minority statements were held inside the chamber, notably featuring remarks from deputies such as Germán Martínez, Maximiliano Ferraro, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, Nicolás del Caño, and Myriam Bregman.
The leader of the Unión por la Patria bloc stated that they had attended to “protect people with disabilities, provide relief to debtors and defaulters, and institutionally repair the damage caused by DNU 70/2023.” He affirmed that those sitting in those seats would continue to show up and defend the dignity of the Argentine people.
Pichetto, for his part, noted that while the decree served as an escape hatch for the national government, it was unconstitutional and abusive. He also targeted the architect of DNU 70/2023, current Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation Federico Sturzenegger, asserting that he will one day have to face accountability and pointing out that he has taken part in every administration that ended in failure.
FIT lawmaker Myriam Bregman declared: “What began today is the process of exposing the lukewarm, the traitors, and the dealmakers, and we want to know what they bargained for,” arguing that they did not negotiate terms to benefit their provinces, but rather for their own self-interest.
