Tension and clashes in the Senate: the government failed to stop the Ks and the pension increase is moving forward.

Kirchnerism came out swinging in the Senate , and in a committee meeting that bordered on scandal, it imposed its majority to move forward with the bills promoting a pension increase and renewing the pension moratorium. These proposals have received preliminary approval from the House of Representatives, and President Javier Milei has already announced that he will veto them because they affect the fiscal deficit.

Strictly speaking, the Senate Labor and Social Security Committee hearing had been convened this Tuesday to ratify Carmen Alvarez Rivero (PRO) as president and Mariano Recalde as vice president, with the intention of beginning to plan the discussion of pension projects starting next week.

However, when the senator from the Bullrich party wanted to adjourn the meeting, Recalde presented a motion proposing that the pension projects be included on the agenda , thus enabling discussion of the pension increase and the new pension moratorium.

The scene was tragicomic when Alvarez Rivero tried to close the door, approving the committee's meeting dates. The senator from Córdoba stood up, and as she left the Illia Room, Recalde informed her that the committee was in session and that if she left, he would assume the presidency.

Faced with this Peronist advance , Parliamentary Secretary Agustín Giustinian stopped the senator and made her reverse her steps, warning her that Recalde could take control of the committee . Even as Alvarez Rivero backed down, the senator from the Union for the Homeland party proposed introducing the two bills that had received preliminary approval from the Lower House.

From then on , a whole series of entanglements began between the ruling party and the opposition . Álvarez Rivero, with little experience, tried to block Recalde's move, arguing that "the committee cannot handle the proposals alone." In reality, the bills must be addressed by the Labor and Social Security Committee, but also by the Budget Committee, and to reach the floor, they need a majority vote of both .

By that time, Unión por la Patria was already going all out and seeking to obtain a committee dispatch, with the support of Larreta's Guadalupe Tagliaferri, who supported enabling the treatment.

The PRO senator announced that she would present her own opinion, thus providing the ninth signature that would allow Peronism to reach the nine signatures needed to secure the opinion. Libertarian Ezequiel Atauche , who chairs the Budget Committee, argued that the opposition's proposal was "unlawful."

Kirchnerism garnered the support of Martín Lousteau at the hearing. He is not a member of the committee, but backed the request to address the pension projects. "It's clear that there's no desire for these issues to be brought up, and the president of a committee can't be the arbiter when the majority wants to debate the issue," stated the head of the UCR National Committee.

While Alvarez Rivero insisted on "deepening" the debate, Juliana Di Tullio accused the ruling party and its allies of holding the Senate back. "I will not consider the unconstitutional proposal," the PRO senator repeated.

The leader of the Radical bloc, Eduardo Vischi , wanted to push through another motion and open the debate on a comprehensive reform of the pension system. "Pushing the debate into haste is not the right thing to do," said the Corrientes native, who proposed convening the committee for this Wednesday, but his proposal didn't even reach a vote.

The ruling party insisted on accusing Kirchnerism of wanting to "break" the government with two measures that affect the fiscal deficit, as warned by the Casa Rosada.

Amid the criticism, Tagliaferri challenged the ruling party, questioning Alvarez Rivero's ability to lead the committee and convene the full committee meeting. He even challenged Atauche to summon the Budget Committee to discuss the bills approved by the House of Representatives in early June.

Radical Pablo Blanco (Tierra del Fuego) also attacked Alvarez Rivero for "capriciously" wanting to avoid discussing the issue of retirees because it's not on the agenda. "What we're doing is a disgrace; the majority of the committee has the power to do so," the Tierra del Fuego native stated.

After nearly two hours of ethereal discussion, Alvarez Rivero had to agree to put the motion to a vote . Kirchnerism, with eight representatives and the support of Tagliaferri, was able to move forward, although the debate will be stalled because it lacks the Budget report, as Atauche does not plan to convene the committee.

The libertarian senator called for a reform of the pension system and demanded that the proposals not affect the fiscal deficit, otherwise they would be vetoed by the Executive Branch, as Milei had anticipated.

In this scenario, Peronism has the support to approach two-thirds of the bill, increasing pensions by 7.2%, updating the emergency bonus from $70,000 to $110,000, and transforming into law the pension update formula that Milei introduced through a decree. However, the bill promoting a moratorium to replace the program that expired in March of this year would not have the same support.

Tensions between the government and the opposition will continue because Senators Lousteau, Blanco, and Tagliaferri, along with Alejandra Vigo, asked Atauche to convene the Budget Committee to address the disability emergency, another initiative that was questioned by the Casa Rosada.