The bill that lowered the salary of congressmen sank, once again

Only two of the four debates that are needed were what managed to overcome the bill that sought to lower the salary of senators and representatives to the Chamber in the country, since it did not achieve the necessary majorities to face its last debate and ended up being archived in this legislative period.

That was the conclusion of the session in the First Committee of the House of Representatives this Tuesday – June 4 – in which the first and only item on the agenda of the day that took place was the vote on this initiative, which since its origins generated a stir in Congress, since He messed with the salaries of these officials, as well as those of the high dignitaries of the State.

The bill, which had already achieved its endorsement in the Senate, received 15 votes in favor and 14 against in the committee vote. Although this achieved majority support, since it was an organic law, it needed at least 21 votes as support in Congress, a situation that was not achieved and therefore ended with the collapse of the project.

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Duvalier Sánchez, speaker in the Chamber of this initiative, He regretted that this happened, especially at this time when the country needs an adjustment in its expenses to think about other areas of the economy such as investment or simply prevent the country from continuing on the path that has fiscal stability at risk.

Colombian pesos

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“We gave the presentation, we explained to the congressmen that this is a mandate from the citizens who voted for it through the anti-corruption consultation, that it is salary justice, that we earn 37 times more than a person who earns a legal minimum wage in Colombia . And of course we answered all the legal doubts that there were, however in the end we did not receive enough support,” said Sánchez.

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During this day, those who were against the project stated that it is an issue in which the scope it could have was not correctly measured and because of this it could have affected officials. from other branches, who had nothing to do with lowering the salaries of congressmen.

Another of those who regretted the collapse of this initiative was representative David Racero, who pointed out that with this the opportunity to generate significant savings for the State is lost, regretting that there were voices against an initiative that sought to strengthen salary equity in the country.

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“Project of which I was co-author of reduction sinks again of salaries to congressmen and other high-ranking officials of the State that could generate savings of close to half a billion pesos,” he initially said through his social networks.

David Racero.

César Melgarejo. TIME

Likewise, in the face of those who criticized him because he apparently abandoned this initiative to its fate, Racero responded vehemently that “of course we defended it. But it is clear that since within Congress the political class refuses to reform itself, we will have to take to the streets again to seek citizen support so that the law can be modified by referendum.

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In this sense, Duvalier Sánchez made a call to the Casa de Nariño to which he stated that “hopefully the National Government can lead it, that it is the President of the Republic and his cabinet, the Ministry of Finance, who presents it in the new legislature because that was one of the big questions, and that according to an article of the Constitution there is uncertainty “If the initiative is exclusive to the Government or can also be presented by the Legislature, as was the case in this case.”

Narino Palace.

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Finally, the speakers of the Project stated that after this political defeat, they will continue to insist that “hopefully one day Congress understands that the gap between Colombians, the majority of Colombians and the salary of congressmen is immense,” remembering that it is one of the highest in the region and does not speak very well of the State’s capacity to generate equality.