Politics: First Look at the Work of the New Congress

MEXICO - Report 09 Dec 2015 by Guillermo Valdes and Esteban Manteca

With the expedited reforms of the Pact for Mexico a fading memory, the 63rd Congress convened for its first session on September 1. In keeping with a custom in place since 1997, whenever the administration in office (whether from the Institutional Revolutionary (PRI) or the National Action (PAN) parties) lack an automatic majority in Congress, there has been no effort for the various party caucuses to meet and hammer out a joint list of legislative priorities prior to the session. That lack of a joint plan makes it all the harder to assess the progress undertaken by the members of both chambers of Congress. The current legislative session, which is still underway and must conclude by December 15, has been no exception.

As usual, it took Congress the first two and a half months of the fall session to deal with the annual debate on the President’s State of the Nation address and report, and the budget package for next year (including both the Revenue and Spending Budget Laws) and very little else. Of the 36 bills passed up to December 2, 23 were related to the budget. Thus far, the 2016 budget package has already been adopted, which in addition to the revenue and spending laws also entailed passage of 21 lesser pieces of fiscal legislation. Of the 36 bills passed up to December 2, 23 were related to the budget.

But while it may be the fall session, and the reform days of the Pact of Mexico are something of a distant memory, two non-budget bills already adopted (constitutional amendments designed to “de-index” the minimum wage, and one on the right of individuals to respond through mass media outlets when they feel such papers or broadcasters have harmed them by distributing inaccurate, false, or damaging information) are especially noteworthy. Moreover, despite these advances, there remains a considerable backlog of pending legislation, bills that are just beginning to be discussed in the chamber of origin and are unlikely to be approved in the current legislative session, as well as a considerable number of very important bills at the mid-way point in their legislative approval.

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