Lawmakers in the Lower House preliminary approved the Newsprint bill, which is now headed to a Senate committee.
Lawmakers in the Lower House passed a bill sent to Congress by President Fernández de Kirchner which establishes that the printing and distribution of newsprint is of public interest.
After more than six hours of debate, 134 lawmakers voted in favour of passing the bill, while 92 voted against it.
13 lawmakers abstained from voting.
After being passed in general, lawmakers began discussing every article in the bill, one by one.
The most criticized article by the opposition is the one that allows the Government to have a larger participation in Papel Prensa S.A., a company whose largest shareholders are newspapers Clarín and La Nación.
Now that it has been preliminary approved, the bill is sent to the Media and Freedom of Speech Committee in the Upper House, where senators will debate whether it should be cleared for debate and sent to the Senate floor or not.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 pm, where the Kirchnerite Victory Front party hopes it is cleared for debate as soon as possible so it can reach the floor on the next session, scheduled for December 22nd.
buenosairesherald.com