With the support of minority blocs, Kirchnerisme approved the moratorium on pensions on the last day of extraordinary sessions

The ruling party got political victory the last day of the extraordinary sessions by approving with 134 votes for the Retirement Debt Payment Plan Act (commonly referred to as moratorium on pensions) and digitization of medical records. In February, only two of the 27 projects that the executive branch put on the agenda were approved, however, the Frente de Todos managed to avoid the fiasco of last year, when it could not meet due to lack of consensus.

The agenda was deliberately limited to ensure support for small blocks that are not part of Together for Change. He In front of all agreed not to put any project on the legal agenda in exchange for obtaining the of which.

A few minutes before 11 a.m., when the deadline to reach the minimum of 129 deputies was almost up, the allies of the ruling party descended on the enclosure. The last were the inhabitants of Buenos Aires Alejandro “Topo” Rodriguez there Graciela Camano of the Federal Interbloc. His bench mates, the socialists Enrique Estevez there Monica FeinThey had done this shortly before.

The ruling party also managed to add the four Left Front deputies —Romina del Pla, Nicolás del Caño, Alejandro Vilca and Myriam Bregman— and to the interbloc legislators of the United Provinces, Luis Di Giacomo, Diego Sartori, Agustin Domingo and Carlos Fernandez.

Prior to the start of debate on the proposed moratorium, the opposition presented several requests for departure from the rule and questions of privilege against the party in power for the impeachment trial against the Supreme Court and in denial of the posters that appeared in the premises of ANSES with the faces of the deputies who reject the retirement project

“They lined the offices of ANSES with posters with the photos of numerous legislators. He is not only fascist but totally a liarsaid the MP for Evolution Martin Tetazand ensured that they limited their right to vote freely.

“If you don’t like my way of thinking, run for office and get votes. This is how it should be done,” he argued.

In the same line, Graciela Camano He criticized the Social Security Workers’ Union, which made and displayed the posters, for its anti-democratic attitude.

The deputy for Buenos Aires also claimed that the authorities of the Chamber expel the general secretary of this union, Carlos Ortega, from the box. The man argued loudly with members of Juntos por el Cambio, then left.

Together for change, through Carla Carrizo, asked that a project to repudiate the posters that the ANSES union put up in the offices of the entity be discussed. Kirchnerism voted against and five other MPs abstained, so the initiative was rejected.

From the ruling party, they detailed that in Argentina 95% of older people of retirement age receive some type of credit and pointed out that 65% obtained it thanks to the moratoriums.

“This project is a palliative, it is a patch, because in situations of this gravityand while the underlying problems are resolved, the fixes are a mechanism to get out of this situation,” said Carlos Heller, chairman of the budget committee.

For his part, the camper Marisa Ucedahead of the Social Welfare Commission, explained that the moratorium is a tool of “solidarity” which also brings a novelty, which is the early cancellation of contributions.

“That 9 out of 10 women cannot access the pension system is a problem that the State must solvebecause we are also responsible for this crisis of the system,” he said.

The opposition, which rejected the project because of its high tax cost and its “inequality” with those who have contributed for 30 years, blamed the government for not carrying out a labor reform to integrate more workers in the formal sector in order to strengthen the system.

The economist of evolution, Alexandre Cacace, acknowledged that with the moratoriums the coverage of pensions has been extended, but specified that this tool generates two problems: the first is fairness, because “the one who has all the requirements cannot obtain the same thing as the one who has none”; and also generates “a huge budget deficit problem”.

“The underlying reality is a labor market problem that has not been resolved, that we are not monitoring adequately. Our pension system requires 30 years of contribution when almost no one can meet this condition,” he explained.

The deputy of La Cámpora, Maxim Kirchner, took the floor at the end of the debate to salute the bloc which allowed the quorum. “It is true that this law is not enough, but today it will be less than yesterday for all these families“, said. He also recognized that the opposition has the right not to descend on the premises: “In my case I did not give a quorum for the vulture funds“, he recalls.

Then he alluded to the scams against opponents on the premises of ANSES. “If an MP felt bad about the posters, that’s understandable and it’s to have some empathy, if you feel bad when you see your face on a poster, Imagine how we feel when they go off on the vice president’s head”.

The project, which had already received half of the approval of the Senate, consists of two parts. On the one hand, a payment plan similar to those implemented in 2004 and 2014 which allows 65-year-old men and 60-year-old women who do not have all the contributions to regularize the missing periods up to 120 maturities which will be directly deducted from the retirement credit they obtain.

On the other hand, it will also allow workers who are active and who have not completed 30 years of contributions because they are close to retirement age to anticipate and start paying the missing periods until March 31, 2012. These people will be able to pay contribution cancellation units, which will be equivalent to one month of service and will have a fixed value of 29% of the minimum tax base of the remuneration, coinciding with what the active pay when their contributions are paid within the deadlines and train.

ANSES estimates that without this law some 800,000 elderly people will not be able to retire and will have to resort to the PUAM (universal pension for the elderly), which is equivalent to 80% of a minimum pension.

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