Buenos Aires, Dec 8 (NA) – This Wednesday, Dec 10, newly elected deputies who took their oath in the preparatory session will be sworn into office. With the new composition of the lower chamber, the Government will seek to pass the 2026 Budget bill between Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. According to the Argentine News Agency from high-level parliamentary sources, this short week will have no committee activity and will be entirely dedicated to parliamentary 'wheeling and dealing', with the Budget and Finance Committee only beginning operations next Tuesday, with its composition previously defined by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem. The plan is for that same Tuesday, Dec 16, to reach the committee's conclusions, which will again be chaired by 'Bertie' Benegas Lynch, and for the initiative to go to the chamber the next day, Wednesday, Dec 17, to obtain its first approval and be immediately sent to the Senate. Both Menem and the newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Diego Santilli, have intensified talks with governors to try to reach a successful conclusion in the budget negotiations. In exchange for guaranteeing their support, the governors demand that the national government back their borrowing in the capital markets and provide resources for the debts of the pension funds of 13 provinces that have not been transferred, among other demands. The Casa Rosada will have to devise a scheme to reward the governors, prioritizing those closest to the government, while ensuring that the fiscal balance is not disrupted. Concurrently with the Budget Committee, the Criminal Legislation Committee will be established, which will be responsible for handling the 'Tax Innocence' bill, an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Economy to encourage the use of undeclared 'mattress dollars'. In parallel, the Senate will begin work on the 'Labor Modernization' reform and the Criminal Code reform promoted by the elected senator Patricia Bullrich during her tenure as Minister of Security. These are two initiatives that are unlikely to become law before next February, when a second extraordinary session is expected to be called. For this first extraordinary session from Dec 10 to 30, the Government included the Glaciers Law reform on the agenda. This is a shared objective between the Nation and the Andean provinces (from the North to Patagonia) that seek to create more favorable conditions to encourage mining and energy investments.
