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Milei vetoed the increase in funding for universities, and Congress is awaiting the rejection of the Garrahan and ATN laws to speed up the insistence.

Clarin

Argentina

Wednesday, September 10


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Just as the deadline approached, Javier Milei vetoed the University Financing Law this Wednesday, and he is expected to do the same with Garrahan's law and the governors' ATN bill. Parliament is already planning to vote on these issues next week.

According to Clarin, Parliament has already received notification of the veto of the bill that updates the operating expenses and salaries of university workers.

The House of Representatives is planning a session for Wednesday the 17th, while the Senate has already agreed to hold a session on Thursday the 18th with all pending issues, and they may add the veto on the ATN to that, if confirmed.

The three projects were communicated to the Executive on August 28 and as the Constitution indicates that the President has 10 business days to reject the deadline is this Thursday.

The results of the last election are unlikely to change the plans of the Casa Rosada, which has let it be known that the three vetoes will be absolute. It is even expected to reject the project to automate transfers of National Treasury Contributions (ATN), which was promoted by the provincial leaders Milei is now calling for a federal roundtable.

The ruling party points out that Milei was clear in the bunker on Sunday: he promised to"correct the mistakes that need to be corrected" but reaffirmed that the economic direction is not negotiable.

"It's unusual because the first contact with the new Minister of the Interior would be to inform us that they're vetoing our project," said a source close to the provinces, referring to the appointment of Lisandro Catalán, who had previously been second-in-command to Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos.

However, the Rosada (Presidential Palace) is promising a better proposal on this issue. Although the Executive Branch had already submitted a"counterproposal" to the House of Representatives, it was submitted at the last minute, on the day the bill was being signed. Although it obtained the signatures of some legislators from its allied governors, the text that prevailed and was approved was the opposition's.

The truth is that in Congress, emboldened by the successes of recent weeks, they are determined to move forward."Neither the ruling party nor the governors are giving us details. We are not going to wait. We are going to move forward," asserts a prominent representative from the opposition benches in the House of Representatives.

Last week, Congress overturned Milei's first veto: the Disability Emergency.

Amendments to laws must be approved by both chambers with a two-thirds vote. But the procedure begins with the chamber that first considered them.

Therefore, the Garrahan and Universities bills must first be voted on in the House of Representatives. This Thursday, there will be a Zoom meeting of legislators with the next steps. In Wednesday's session, the opposition plans to not only insist on these two vetoes, but also on the pending vetoes of the Bahía Blanca Emergency and the Pension Moratorium. They also plan to vote on the governors' second bill: the revenue sharing of the Liquid Fuels Tax.

"Those laws that impose repeals for which we don't have the funds will be vetoed," Francos responded when asked about the issue during his presentation to the Lower House.

The university funding update, according to the opposition's calculations, represents an additional expenditure of 0.14% of GDP ($1.059 billion). While for La Libertad Avanza, it represents more than $1.5 billion.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that the pediatric emergency bill, which declares a one-year emergency and requires staff salaries to be updated, equating the salaries of pediatric care staff (both primary and secondary) and residents to the November 2023 salary level would entail additional national expenditures of $65.573 billion between July and December. Annualized, this expenditure would reach $133.433 billion.

In the Senate, meanwhile, they agreed to hold a session on Thursday to address all pending issues. These include the Nicolás Law, the Sofia Alert, the bill by Radical Party member Carolina Losada on false accusations, and they could add their insistence on the ATN bill.

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