Financing law would be left with no other option than to go to extraordinary sessions

Although it is a necessity for the National Government to achieve the money it needs in the General Budget of the Nation for 2025 and in recent days several meetings have been held with the various sectors of Congress, to explain the importance of the project and seek consensus, to the financing law Time is running out and everything indicates that his future will be defined in extraordinary sessions.

All this, after it was postponed last week the public hearing that the House of Representatives had scheduled and that is mandatory in accordance with the principle of publicity and debate that national legislation requires for any initiative that seeks to become a law of the Republic. If everything goes as budgeted, it should be done in the next few days.

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It is striking that initially at least three hearings of this type had been scheduled, in different regions of the country, but as the days went by they were cut back, until there was one, which would be held in Bogotá, to comply with the requirements of the law. taking into account that the Senate already fulfilled its part in mid-November.

On the other hand, Portafolio was able to establish that although the resolution calling for joint sessions of the Senate and Chamber had already been signed, said document has not been shared with all the congressmen who are part of the process and because of this, there is still confusion. on how the debates and the respective vote on the financing law will be carried out.

That said, it must be taken into account that the ordinary sessions of Congress go until December 16. That is, there are less than two weeks left for this branch of public power to go on vacation and unless extraordinary sessions are called, the times do not add up to process the four approvals that are needed, in case the sessions are not formalized. joint.

Headwind

This medium spoke with several sources in the Senate and the House of Representatives and learned that despite the Government’s insistence, there is still some resistance among legislators, given that they consider that the economic and political moment of the country is not the best, the arguments of the Ministry of Finance in favor of the project are not convincing and the alerts regarding The fiscal effects that have been noted since its announcement have had an echo.

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That said, there are currently two scenarios in Congress, on the one hand, there are those who maintain that the time is sufficient and the reform, if no more time is lost, would be ready for presidential sanction before the end of the year and would be consistent with the urgency. what there is to issue the 2025 National Budget and the need for it not to start underfunded.

Specifically, the calculations that this group of senators and representatives have is that this week the necessary hearing would be held and after that the debates of joint economic sessions would be scheduled. All this before December 16, for so that they can concentrate on plenary debates, after that date, in extraordinary sessions.

Ministry of Finance and Public Credit

Private file

This is why the resolution of joint sessions, which is not yet known to all congressmen, must be made official as soon as possible or else they risk unnecessary delays that would jeopardize the full approval of the financing bill. It should be remembered that, until a few days ago, this document could not be signed due to the refusal of some members of the Chamber.

Proposals and delays

On the other side of the coin, sectors that are not supporters of the government of President Gustavo Petro and some who today declare themselves neutral, from where an offensive is being prepared to delay the process as much as possible and even try to sink it before it reaches plenary.

Portafolio learned that during the last few days at least seven archival proposals were being prepared and that the Ministry of Finance fears that the initiative will fall during its first debate in the Senate, which would truncate the entire process. This is why they insist on calling for joint efforts and taking advantage of the majority support they have in the House of Representatives.

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The financing bill seeks to raise $12 billion pesos to complete the operating and investment expenses budgeted for next year. The urgency for this proposal to go ahead is such that the Government has even warned that if it does not pass, the resources to carry out development would be put at risk. in the regions, a sentence that is not minor in these times of marked economic slowdown.

To defend the proposal, Minister Ricardo Bonilla has said that they are not proposing anything new, since past administrations have resorted to the same mechanism, and that the tax adjustments they want to make focus on generating a tax balance in the gaming sector. chance and in protecting the environment with ideas such as increasing the carbon tax.

Colombian pesos

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Likewise, it has already been made clear that, if it does not pass as a financing law, The steps to follow will be a freeze of the budget items that depend on this rule, to re-present these ideas as a tax reform, which would be discussed in the next term.

However, Congress remembers that the changes in taxes proposed will generate more harm than benefits and that they do not constitute 50% of the $12 billion that are needed, since they also seek to advance compliance with the fiscal rule, a measure that for them only It relieves the cash flow, but does not translate into income for the Nation.

With all this on the table, suffice it to say that this week will be essential to determine what happens with the financing bill and whether or not the time will finally be enough to achieve its approval, in the midst of a tense environment between the executive and legislative and in the prelude to a year in which the presidential race is expected to move forward.