The House on Thursday approved the tax reduction on heating fuel, part of a relief package to tackle the cost of living unveiled in late September.
The tax on heating fuel will be cut by 5.3 cents a litre.
In voting the bill through, MPs also amended it, so that the discounted tax now kicks in as of October 23 instead of November 1.
The reduced rate will apply until April 30, 2027.
The government estimates the fiscal hit from loss of tax revenue at around €5.2 million.
In remarks on the House floor, all MPs agreed with the measure, but some argued that it was a case of too little, too late.
Alma MP Odysseas Michaelides noted that, practically speaking, heating fuel would now cost €1,600 a tonne – instead of €1,650.
He also recalled that only in March this year, a tonne cost €950.
Michaelides said the government should have also requested from the European Commission a further tax rate reduction for motor fuel, as it had done for heating oil.
Direct Democracy MP Yiannis Laouris called the measure a “stopgap solution”.
He said it’s inconceivable that energy should be taxed; rather, it should be classed as an essential item.
The government, he added, is raking in extra revenue from VAT, due to higher prices, and then giving out small relief “as charity”.
A Dallas-area juvenile arrested by the FBI for planning a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS may also have been planning to assassinate Rep. Keith Self (R-TX), the co-founder and co-chair of the Sharia-Free America Caucus, according to information reviewed by Breitbart News.
Former speaker is latest target of mailings sent to various Congress members in the lead-up to the midterm elections
California representative Nancy Pelosi’s office received “a suspicious letter” on Wednesday in what appears to be the latest incident of ill-intentioned mailings targeted at US Congress members before the midterm elections.
The offices of more than three dozen members of Congress across the political spectrum have received envelopes containing white powder in recent days. One lawmaker’s office said preliminary tests indicated the powder was not hazardous.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has released a campaign advertisement highlighting allegations that Democrat congressional challenger Janelle Stelson was naked outside her home in view of a neighbor's grandchild, referencing a written statement from a neighbor who claims to have photographed the incident.
Lawler, a moderate Republican, is fending off a challenge from Democrat Cait Conley in the Hudson valley. It is among the most-watched races that could determine whether Republicans hold on to their majority in Congress.
Senator Esmeralda Hernández says Colombia’s two legislative chambers approved different versions of a budget provision without reconciling them before the deadline.
A dispute over conflicting versions of a provision in Colombia’s 2027 national budget has raised questions about the bill’s legislative validity. Senator Esmeralda Hernández says the Senate and House of Representatives approved different versions of Article 65 but failed to reconcile them before the October 20 deadline.
The provision concerns the stabilization of funds against fluctuations in international oil prices and gasoline prices. The budget, approved at 634.9 trillion pesos, is at the center of a disagreement over whether the legislative process complied with the required procedure.
Hernández said she identified the discrepancy alongside Lina García Sierra, Bogotá’s regional ombudswoman. They presented their findings in an interview with journalist Daniel Coronell on his program El Reporte Coronell.
According to Hernández, the Senate approved the original version of Article 65, while the House adopted a different text that included a proposal by Senator Juan Fernando Caicedo of the Democratic Center party and two additional paragraphs.
¡Tumbamos el Presupuesto de Abelardo!
Tras una revisión rigurosa junto a @LinaGarciaSi, encontramos que Cámara y Senado aprobaron textos diferentes, sin la conciliación obligatoria. Por el afán de pupitrearlo terminaron haciéndolo mal, a medianoche y de espaldas al país.
Text Reads: We’ve taken down Abelardo’s Budget! After a rigorous review alongside@LinaGarciaSi, we found that the House and Senate approved different texts, without the mandatory reconciliation. In their rush to ram it through, they ended up doing it wrong, at midnight and behind the country’s back. We confront mediocrity and lies with rigor and arguments!
Caicedo withdrew his proposal during a Senate plenary session, leaving it on record rather than seeking its approval. “As the sole author of the proposal, I withdraw it and leave it on record,” he said.
“In the Senate, they approve the original text, while the House approves the text with Caicedo’s proposal, signed by a House representative, resulting in a different text,” Hernández told Coronell.
The Senate’s General Secretariat confirmed on October 20 that Article 65 had been approved without proposals or amendments. In a statement, Secretary-General Diego Alejandro González González said he had instructed the chamber’s reporting office to publish the official link to all proposals approved by the plenary, noting that none concerned Article 65.
#Colombia | Congress approved a US$201 billion budget for 2027 amid opposition criticism of cuts to education, social programs, and peace institutions. The Historic Pact coalition announced legal challenges over reduced funding for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.#Colombia… pic.twitter.com/Dq6v6E2Ksh
The House maintained during the debate that both chambers had approved identical texts. John Édgar Pérez, a Cambio Radical representative and coordinating rapporteur for the bill, argued that reconciliation was unnecessary and proposed that the House adopt the version approved by the Senate.
The House passed the budget in the early hours of October 20, with 96 votes in favor and one against.
Hernández argues that the differences required a reconciliation committee to produce a unified text and submit it to the appropriate legislative procedure. She maintains that the House vote came too late to complete that process before the legal deadline.
García warned that the failure to reconcile the texts could jeopardize the legality of the entire budget. She said she would file a constitutional challenge if the government enacted the legislation despite the alleged irregularity. Her statements reflect her legal assessment; no judicial ruling on the budget’s validity was cited.
Carlos Meisel, the Senate’s coordinating rapporteur for the bill, disputed the argument that a potential change introduced during the House proceedings would invalidate the entire process.
Meisel said the version approved during the first debate by the joint economic committees could serve as the basis for issuing the budget by decree. He added that this version accounted for 95% of the content subsequently approved by the Senate and had been developed through agreements with the national government.
El Presupuesto fue aprobado ayer en la plenaria del Senado de la República sin ningún error ni vicio. Lo que aparentemente ocurrió después en la Cámara de Representantes (de ser cierto), no vicia todo el proceso desde el inicio. Queda para decreto el texto que se aprobó en primer…
Text Reads: The Budget was approved yesterday in the plenary session of the Senate of the Republic without any errors or flaws. What apparently happened afterward in the House of Representatives (if true) does not taint the entire process from the beginning. The text approved in the first debate in the economic committees remains for decree. So please, let’s not exaggerate the uncertainty, because in any case, there is a budget and it is the one from the first debate. This one also came from a collective construction with the government. (And among other things, it was 95% of what was voted on yesterday) At this moment, this country does not benefit from us adding more nerves, and that’s why we work so arduously and committedly on a calm construction and agreements.
The dispute centers on whether the two chambers approved different versions of Article 65 and what consequences that discrepancy could have for the 2027 budget. Hernández argues that the lack of reconciliation left the legislative process incomplete, while Meisel maintains that a potential irregularity at a later stage would not invalidate the preceding steps.
The Republican Party of Kentucky is the first GOP state party in the nation to run a coordinated broadcast ad buy this year, with the two entities teaming with 6th District Congressional nominee Ralph Alvarado in his bid to represent the Bluegrass State in Washington.
The billionaire Michael Bloomberg will spend $80m to help Democratic candidates in the midterm elections, US media reported on Tuesday, a significant infusion of cash for a party that has recently struggled with fundraising as it seeks to win control of Congress.
The reported donations came as Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he intended to spend a total of $400m to aid Republican candidates, with $300m already disbursed.
Some lawmakers and commentators have turned their attention to the possibility that Republicans in Congress could try to block Democrats from assuming the majority.
Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats seize the majority, has traveled to some 50 cities campaigning for Democratic candidates.
With Republicans seen as less likely to hold their majority in the House, the party is focusing more on the battle for the Senate, where it is vastly outspending Democrats on ads.
To boost Senator Jon Husted, who is in a tight race to keep his seat, some Republicans who were making a jobs pitch have pivoted to focus on socialism.
Tanya Karabanovs, a volunteer at the Cuyahoga County G.O.P. headquarters, surrounded by unclaimed yard signs. She said that volunteer turnout had been down this midterm cycle.
Ex-president urges Americans to defend congresswoman, saying ‘there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her’
Former US president Barack Obama condemned comments by Donald Trump’s “border czar” that the Republican presidential administration could “of course” strip Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar of her citizenship and deport her.
Obama wrote Sunday morning, on X, that “the full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.”
Ken Paxton’s bus tour of Texas comes as polls have shown the race for Senate is increasingly close. His rival, James Talarico, is scheduled to kick off a similar tour on Sunday.
Ever the optimist, Speaker Mike Johnson said he believes Republicans will hold on to their U.S. House majority, defying a surge of Democratic momentum in the final stretch of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Minnesota lawmaker’s attorneys asked for return of seized items and the preservation of any recordings of search
Ilhan Omar’s attorneys have asked the US Department of Justice to return property that federal agents removed days earlier from her home during a search.
The lawyers for the Minnesota Democrat contended that the seizure as “neither justified nor lawful”, according to a letter that the Associated Press reported on Friday.
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