Javier Milei's government suffered another blow in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday with the resounding rejection of the veto on the declaration of a state of emergency in pediatrics and on university funding. The vetoes will now move to the Senate, where it is assumed the presidential vetoes will also be rejected.
The opposition needed two-thirds of the votes to push through the passed laws and overturn Milei's vetoes. The pediatric emergency department was approved with 181 votes in favor, 60 against, and 1 abstention. Meanwhile, university funding was approved with 174 votes in favor, 67 against, and 2 abstentions. In both cases, the special majority was easily achieved.
The pediatric emergency law provides extraordinary funds for hospitals like Garrahan and stipulates an inflation-based adjustment of health workers' salaries. The university financing law, meanwhile, updates university operating expenses based on the Price Index and also mandates the reopening of the sector's collective bargaining agreement.
For the Government, the rejection of the vetoes is more than a legislative setback, it is a hard blow on the political level since it became evident the difficulty of the Executive Branch in reaching consensus with the governors who were known as allies during the first year of management. During the last week, the new Minister of the Interior, Lisandro Catalán, had met with the governor of Salta Gustavo Sáenz and with his counterpart from Tucumán Osvaldo Jaldo ; and also received at the Casa Rosada were the allies Alfredo Cornejo (Mendoza), Rogelio Frigerio (Entre Ríos) and Leandro Zdero (Chaco).
On the other hand, the government distributed $12.5 billion in National Treasury Contributions (ATN) to four provinces: Misiones received $4 billion, Entre Ríos $3 billion, Santa Fe $3 billion, and Chaco $2.5 billion. The figure far exceeded the total $3 billion sent throughout August. The attempt to bridge the gap with the provinces was clear, but it was unsuccessful.
At the start of the session, the opposition discovered with some disbelief that some of the ruling party's electoral allies would ultimately not provide key presences to support the vetoes. Francisco Morchio, close to the governor of Entre Ríos, Rogelio Frigerio, and Gerardo Cipolini, an ally of Leandro Zdero from Chaco, did not sit in their seats.
The libertarians also suffered the departure of former libertarians, such as MID deputies Oscar Zago and Eduardo Falcone, who left due to their tensions with Martín Menem and because they were excluded from the electoral process in the province of Buenos Aires. In addition, four former libertarians who formed their own bloc, called Coherencia, voted against Milei's vetoes: Marcela Pagano, Carlos D'alessandro, Gerardo González, and Lourdes Arrieta. All of them left the ruling bloc with harsh criticism of Martín Menem and Karina Milei.
"We've walked the halls of Garrahan with parents who travel thousands of miles in search of solutions. Voting against Garrahan is voting against moral equilibrium," D'alessandro said, explaining why he would reject the vetoes after having voted against the pediatric emergency two months ago.
Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres made his displeasure with the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace) felt by voting against the proposal, including the votes of"Loma" Ávila and Ana Clara Romero. The same was true of Rio Negro Governor Alberto Weretilneck, who sent Agustín Domingo to vote for the motion. His deputies had been absent or abstained when the half-sanction was voted on.
However, among the main surprises of the day was the vote against the government of the four Misiones representatives of the Federal Innovation Party (Alberto Arrúa, Carlos Fernández, Yamila Ruiz, and Daniel Vancsik), who report directly to Governor Hugo Passalacqua and the leader of the Renovador Front, Carlos Rovira. Misiones was the province that received the most ATN last Friday, about $4 billion, so the opposition did not count on its support.
Mendoza representatives Lisandro Nieri and Pamela Verasay were absent for much of the session but sat down minutes before voting to reject the university veto, even though Governor Cornejo is an electoral ally of the Libertarians ahead of October. Garrahan considers both absent.
PRO representative Silvia Lospennato was absent for the mid-term approval of the pediatric emergency bill but now voted against the vetoes."These laws are a patch that will resolve a management deficit," she stated.
Also playing against the government were the usual allies of the libertarians, such as the"wigged" radicals Mariano Campero and Federico Tournier, and the Tucumán CREO member Paula Omodeo ; while the liberal Ricardo López Murphy abstained.
The government did not have the explicit support of any governor in the vote on the pediatric emergency. Almost all of them opposed Milei's veto, the only exceptions being Frigerio and Zdero, who only had two absences.
The voting table not only revealed the parliamentary weakness of the Libertarians but also the consequences of the risky strategy of Karina Milei, Lule and Martín Menem, who in most provinces presented their own LLA lists to compete with the local governments, which generated strong discontent among the leaders.
