In interview with The Cooperative Journalthe president of the Chamber of Deputies, Karol Cariola (Communist Party), maintained this Friday that the idea of Congress behind the legislative security «fast track» agreed this week with the Government, which will give priority to 32 bills, is to facilitate their processing and not necessarily guarantee votes, emphasizing that Parliament «is not a mailbox.»
«Many times what is believed is that when a ‘fast track’ is built, what there is is an agreement to release these projects as they are and as if we all agreed, and that’s not the case.»said the leader of the Lower House, after the bench of National Renewal (RN) confirmed that he will oppose the advancement of this agenda due to «essential» proposals that were left out.
Cariola stated that «the president of the Senate (Jose Garcia, from RN) and who is speaking, as president of the Chamber, we were summoned by the Government to be able to discuss this legislative agenda regarding security in order to complement what had already been worked on before. In that sense, «What we have said clearly is that what we can do, contribute, help, from the Legislative Branch is to facilitate the processing of this legislative agenda.»
«That is to say,» he added, «that the deadlines are met; make special calls; help, if special sessions have to be held within the House or Senate to be able to facilitate the processing of the projects when they are dispatched from the commissions, to be able to do so; obviously comply with the times that the Executive sets and that have to do with regulatory times.»
Asked about the possibility that in the discussion of this «fast track» the unchecking carried out by pro-government parliamentarians in past votes could be repeated, the PC activist pointed out that «although the Executive has the authority to set legislative times, it also He has the political power to talk with his political sector, in this case with the ruling party; to put each of the projects in dialogue».
«They (the Government) are also aware that bills have their processing process, otherwise the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate would become a mailbox, and we are not a mailbox. We are a different power of the State, which has autonomy, but is interested in collaborating in a legislation process,» said Cariola.
«What I cannot do is say how this or that deputy is going to vote, if each parliamentarian and each political sector has a responsibility and the power to define how they exercise their right to vote,» he said.
[En vivo] Representative Cariola: The Senate and the House are not a mailbox; We are a different power of the State (from the Executive) and that has autonomy, but with the interest of collaborating in a legislation process #CooperativeWithYou
— Cooperative (@Cooperative) May 24, 2024
«REPRESENTATIVE LONGTON IS WRONG»
Next, Cariola responded to the deputy Andrew Longtonfrom RN, who accused that in the security «fast track» there is «a kind of veto» forks «a political point prior to the Public Account» of the President Gabriel Boric from June 1st.
«I think that in that the deputy is wrong, especially because the president of the Senate, who is a member of his party, National Renewal, participated in this ‘fast track’ or this agreement. I am a member of another party, but we were both in the role of representing the institutions in which we work. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies are spaces for co-legislative work with the Government and here «Trying to mark a political intention in the content of the bills seems inappropriate to me.»retorted the head of the Corporation.
Along those lines, he noted that «there are several projects that the opposition itself proposed and that are contained in the ‘fast track’ proposal, at least five or six projects or probably more.»
[En vivo] Deputy Cariola on the security ‘fast track’: Deputy Longton is wrong; The president of the Senate is a member of his party and we both went representing Congress. Marking a political intention in the bills is not appropriate…
— Cooperative (@Cooperative) May 24, 2024