Argentina's Congress approves pension reform amid strike

Argentina's Congress has approved a controversial pension reform bill that has prompted violent protests.

Lawmakers passed the measure Tuesday in the lower house in a 127-117 vote after debating for over 12 hours.

The measure had already passed the Senate. It is part of a series of economic changes pushed by President Mauricio Macri to reduce Argentina's high budget deficit, projected to rise to a record $35 billion this year following a series of corporate tax cuts decreed by Macri upon taking office two years ago and a severe recession in 2016.

About 150 people were injured and about 60 were arrested - including seven journalists - when clashes between police and demonstrators broke out Monday outside the Congress building in Buenos Aires. One protester, a 33 year-old cancer patient named Leo Chávez, remains missing since disappearing from last week's protests against the bill.

Argentina's largest labor federation, the CGT, also called a 24-hour general strike that is grounding hundreds of flights.

The bill cuts payments to retirees, pensioners, veterans, the disabled, and the poor by 8.5% in the first year alone. The full retirement age is likewise raised from 65 to 70.

The savings of at least $6 billion in the first year are mostly lost, however, to a revenue stream change projected to cost the ANSES social security agency some $4 billion in annual revenue.

The bill passed with the last-minute support of 15 legislators, mostly from small provinces that depend heavily on federal revenue sharing to finance their budgets.

The move, which followed a meeting with 11 governors who flew to Buenos Aires to pressure legislators for passage, prompted Congresswoman María Emilia Soria to refer to these governors as “Macri's prostitutes.”

“But with apologies to prostitutes,” she clarified. “Because this was extortion.”

At: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/12/19/argentinas-congress-approves-pension-reform-amid-strike.html

An Argentine senior citizen is assisted by fellow protesters after being doused with tear gas during yesterday's protests in Buenos Aires. Seniors, who would have received a 15.5% hike in pensions next March under current law, will now see a 5.7% increase.

Prices have doubled since Macri took office two years ago, and inflation remains at 23%.