For 149 votes in favor, 1 against and 3 abstentions, the Chamber of Deputies approved the project that extends and increases Emergency Family Income. Virtual hugs here and there. The so-called IFE 2.0 is the result of the agreement reached by the Government with the extended finance committees sealed last weekend and also includes enhancements to the Employment Protection Act and economic revival measures, among others. However, it seems that in the opposition they do not agree very much with the applause.
According to La Tercera, the opposition helmsman Alvaro Elizalde (PS) and Heraldo Muñoz (PPD) confirmed that they will not attend tomorrow’s event set at 11:45 in La Moneda on the occasion of promotion to the recently approved initiative. The invitation was made by the Government through the interior ministers, Gonzalo Blumel and the Segpres, Claudio Alvarado, who contacted the DC party presidents, the PS and the PPD and with the parliamentarians of the committees that participated in the agreement.
The answer is no. Heraldo Muñoz argued his noassyance because there is quarantine, while D.C.’s helmsman Fuad Chahín confirmed that he was invited but has not decided whether to participate in tomorrow’s event.
“The important thing is that the changes to emergency income are applied quickly because many families are having a hard time,” Senator Elizalde said.
Nothing to celebrate
Senators Carlos Montes (PS) and Ricardo Lagos Weber (PPD) of the Finance Commission will also not arrive in La Moneda tomorrow. Senate President Adriana Muñoz (PPD) was invited but will not attend either. The reason: quarantine.
“There’s nothing to celebrate. If this has any left of celebration is not correct, that is why I will not attend in person or virtually. The families are very bad and we are being late, we should have done this in March, it is impossible to celebrate under these conditions,” Montes told La Tercera.
“It is obvious that we have nothing to celebrate, after the honesty of the figures we have seen these days. In any case, the least we could do as a political class is to agree on how to help the millions of Chileans who require it,” added Lagos Weber, according to the morning.
It should be noted that during the negotiations of the agreement there were several opposition leaders who spoke that they would not “borrow” for a photograph in The Currency with their arms held high.
The president of the Radical Party, Carlos Maldonado – who got out of the talks before they started – and the deputy of the Democratic Revolution, Giorgio Jackson – who ended his participation at the table before it was over – were not invited.
