After days of debate, Argentina’s House of Representatives voted Friday to fully approve Liberal President Javier Millei’s sweeping “omnibus” reform bill, paving the way for a decisive vote in the Senate. Ta.
The controversial reform bill was approved with 144 votes in favor and 109 votes against.
Members of the House of Representatives will also vote on the bill article by article, starting on February 6, but general approval means it will likely go to the Senate in some form.
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In recent days, demonstrators waving flags opposing Prime Minister Milais Millais’ reforms have repeatedly clashed with riot police deployed outside the green-domed neoclassical parliament building, at times hurling stones. .
Argentina’s President-elect Javier Millei attends a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natasha Pisarenko)
The huge bill is a key piece of Mr. Millay’s reform plan for Argentina’s struggling economy, which faces a ticking time bomb of over 200% inflation, depleted foreign exchange reserves and debt servicing from creditors and investors.
The reforms that make up this bill range from economic policy to the privatization of state institutions. They are a key part of Mr. Millay’s efforts to deal with the South American country’s worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation rates exceeding 200% and national treasuries depleted.
The vote came after a long and heated debate in the House of Commons, with members of the main center-left Peronist opposition coalition Union por la Patria expressing strong rejection of Millais’ policies, while supporters asked not to block the bill.
Although Millay’s party, La Libertad Avanza, has only a minority of its 257-seat majority, it still has a coalition of major centre-right parties, including Juntos por el Cambio, to advance the bill. We were able to gather sufficient support from fellow allies.
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Milley’s government last week removed some of the divisive spending reforms in the fiscal provisions from the bill, a move that has proven to be a successful strategy to drum up support.
