In a day that will be marked as a turning point in Congress, the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday approved three key projects that generated strong opposition from the opposition. At the request of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and with support from its allies, the so-called «Super RIGI» was passed, payment to two vulture funds totaling US$171 million was authorized, and Chief of Cabinet Manuel Adorni was shielded after two requests for interpellation were rejected.
The Super RIGI bill, which now goes to the Senate, was approved with 130 votes in favor, 106 against, and 7 abstentions. LLA deputy Bertie Benegas Lynch, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, defended the initiative: «Capital has no homeland; we compete with other markets and it goes where there are other businesses and institutional security, not politicians like you,» he said, referring to the Unión por la Patria bloc.
From Peronism, deputy Mario Manrique was blunt: «This bill is telling the national industry to go to hell and Argentine workers that they will lose their jobs.» He also warned that the text sent by the Casa Rosada «conflicts with the Constitution in ten articles.»
Encuentro Federal deputy Miguel Ángel Pichetto was also critical: «The Super RIGI is not a good law. We are providing extreme guarantees to businesses that would have been investments on their own.» According to him, the bill has «a quite laudable goal,» but does so «at the cost of concentrating incentives in capital-intensive sectors, without compensation for labor-intensive ones.»
For his part, Maximiliano Ferraro of the Coalición Cívica went further: «It is clearly a law with a name and surname, based on the proper name of Peter Thiel, but also others who represent this political, ideological, and geopolitical matrix.»
The new Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) establishes priority for «new economic activities,» defined as industrial, technological, or service projects linked to strategic digital and technological infrastructure that are not currently developed in the country, or whose degree of development is experimental or pilot.
In parallel, the Chamber of Deputies gave final approval to the authorization of payments to two vulture funds: Bainbridge Ltd. and the group of creditors led by Attestor Value Master Fund LP, for a total of US$171 million. The initiative was approved with 139 votes in favor and 97 against. Only the Unión por la Patria and FIT blocs, along with some single-member blocs, voted against.
Benegas Lynch again took the floor to defend the payment: «We have the opportunity to close this wound of international dishonor and the literal meaning of discredit.» The ultra-liberal highlighted the «arduous and difficult negotiation» and the «negotiation conditions with a 30% haircut,» noting that «we are exempted from paying legal fees.»
However, the head of the Unión por la Patria bloc, Germán Martínez, rejected the arguments: «They will use your own words to litigate against the Argentine state. You said nonsense,» he said, complaining that the «LLA majority opinion has nine lines.» His colleague Vanesa Siley denounced that «we lack necessary information» and added: «We don’t know the profit amount because there is no haircut relative to what was acquired, because there is no court ruling.»
Pichetto, for his part, contrasted that the payment to the vulture funds «lacks a budget allocation,» while Javier Milei himself used that argument to veto the University Financing Law. «The bill would violate Article 38 of Law 24,156, under the same terms that motivated the veto of the University Financing Law, with the aggravating factor that in that case there was a mentioned source, although the Executive deemed it insufficient. In this bill, no source is identified; for this reason, I will vote against,» Pichetto stated.
At the start of the session, LLA and its allies rejected two requests for interpellation of Manuel Adorni. The first was submitted by FIT deputy Myriam Bregman and the other by Maximiliano Ferraro. «Yesterday there were none; today they arrived looking distracted, playing dumb, talking on the phone,» Bregman said against the allies who on Tuesday did not attend the session requested by the hardline opposition.
Ferraro noted that «the majority of the Argentine people and this Congress have withdrawn their confidence for him to serve as Chief of Cabinet of the Nation» and stated that «his situation is untenable.» Ferraro’s request obtained 122 votes in favor and 108 against, while Bregman’s only got 104 in favor and 125 against. The ruling party received support from the Unión Cívica Radical, the Movimiento de Integración y Desarrollo, Adelante Buenos Aires, Por Santa Cruz, Independencia, and Producción y Trabajo.
The head of the PRO bloc, Cristian Ritondo, called Tuesday’s session a «show» and assured: «Today it is proven that the absence from the session, to which we were not invited, the quorum corresponds to whoever calls the session.» Martínez retorted: «No one asks that much of you, Cristian.»
Amid the controversy, the Chamber of Deputies also unanimously approved four international agreements: two on social security with Switzerland and San Marino, an agreement with Italy to prevent illegal fishing, and another with France to avoid double taxation. All four texts had been partially approved by the Senate.
Para mí esto es un golazo. Blindar a Adorni es cerrarle la boca a los zurdos resentidos. El Super RIGI trae inversiones y los fondos buitres cobran lo que es suyo. Los progres chillan porque no les dan de comer. ¡Arriba la libertad carajo!
che para mi estos hdp nos estan choreando a cara de perro blindan a adorni el super rigi es un curro para los amigos y encima le pagan 171 palos verdes a los buitres son unos vendepatria de mierda no les importa un carajo el pueblo #NuncaMas