The government speeds up proceedings in Congress and appoints three key figures for the final sprint in negotiations

With their sights set on the start of the extraordinary sessions in Congress, Balcarce 50 is defining its strategy and division of roles to close 2025 with some of its objectives achieved. The three leaders who will take on the difficult negotiations are Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni, Senator Patricia Bullrich, and Interior Minister Diego Santilli, according to information obtained by LA NACION from official sources. "As leader of the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc in the Upper House, Bullrich visited the Casa Rosada on Monday, where she met with advisor Santiago Caputo. She is the government's big bet in the Senate, where labor reform will begin to be discussed, to which she added in recent hours an escalation in the AFA case with the complaint against its head, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, and treasurer Pablo Toviggino. "Another person who is fully committed to the legislative agenda is Santilli, the head of the political portfolio, who will spend the entire week working in the National Congress. “He will do so with both Martín Menem and Patricia, in direct contact with governors, deputies, and senators, to secure votes,” said those close to him, referring to the budget, tax amnesty, and labor reform bills. "In meetings throughout November, led by Adorni, Santilli met with the 20 governors who signed the May Pact. They did not do so with Peronists Axel Kicillof, from Buenos Aires; Gustavo Melella, Tierra del Fuego; Gildo Insfrán, Formosa; and Ricardo Quintela, La Rioja. In the Casa Rosada, it has already been decided that in the immediate future there will be no agreement with the leaders most closely identified with the opposition. "All these moves are part of what has been taking shape for days in the main offices of the libertarian government. In fact, last Friday, the secretary general of the Presidency, Karina Milei, called a meeting at the Casa Rosada with most of the officials involved in the legislative agenda to finalize the steps to be taken during the two weeks of extraordinary sessions. Unlike on other occasions, she was not present because, like President Javier Milei, she traveled to Córdoba that day as part of the “tour of gratitude.” The meeting was led by Adorni and attended by Bullrich, Santilli, Caputo, the undersecretary of Institutional Management, Eduardo “Lule” Menem, the legal and technical secretary, María Ibarzabal, and the finance secretary, Carlos Guberman. "It was an expanded meeting of what is usually the political table, under the watchful eye of Adorni, who will be a key link between the different actors, given the trust placed in him by the Milei brothers. The Chief of Staff, in turn, added Ignacio Devitt, who comes from working at the tobacco company Philip Morris, to his team as the new Secretary of Strategic Affairs, with broad responsibilities. The Milei administration is convinced that the labor reform should first be dealt with in the Senate, despite the opposition's argument that, as the bill contains tax provisions, it should first go to the Chamber of Deputies in accordance with the rules. Balcarce 50 said that this is not the case and listed precedents and case law in favor of its decision. "This is a technical debate in which the ruling party has the upper hand because it controls the presidencies of both chambers. But there are opposition deputies and senators who argue: “The Constitution is not a formal procedure or a political obstacle: it is the rules of the game that guarantee the institutional balance of the Republic, and Article 52 clearly establishes that laws relating to taxes must originate in the Chamber of Deputies,” said Senator Carolina Moisés of Jujuy. “Any attempt by the executive branch to circumvent this procedure distorts the bicameral system, violates exclusive powers, and can be overturned in court,” the legislator added. She was later joined by Representatives Guillermo Michel and Esteban Paulón, among others. “At Balcarce 50, they argue that this should only occur when the law is ‘purely tax-related, which is not the case here.’” They referred to Article 77 of the Constitution, which states that "laws may originate in either House of Congress, through bills presented by its members or by the Executive Branch. Except for the exceptions established by this Constitution.“ One of those constitutional exceptions is provided for in Article 52, which establishes that ”the Chamber of Deputies has exclusive authority to initiate legislation on taxation." They explain that this article was the subject of debate. And that while some have considered that all laws related to taxation, even if they are promotion schemes, must necessarily originate in the Chamber of Deputies, others—among whom the government cites the late jurist Segundo Linares Quintana, with reference to Joaquín V. González, and Alberto Spota—assert that “any bill that does not create or increase taxes, but rather eliminates or reduces them” may originate in the Senate. Libertarians point out that this debate already took place in the Senate in 1985, and that the majority position was the latter, which, they add, “coincides with the criteria used to send the Labor Reform to the upper house.” In terms of case law, they refer to the fact that the Supreme Court ruled on this issue in a 1948 decision and understood that the Senate could introduce a bill that, although related to taxes, was part of a body of law that was not essentially tax-related. The Casa Rosada adds that there are many precedents and highlights that in the recent past there is a clear precedent in which the Senate was used as the initiating chamber for a bill on the Personal Property Tax. That bill became Law No. 27,667 and increased the minimum non-taxable amount above which the tax must be paid. Sources recalled that “in that precedent, senators from the current opposition voted, such as Juliana Di Tullio, Anabel Fernández Sagasti, José Mayans, and Mariano Recalde.”