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With the support of Macri, the Government managed to maintain the veto on the university financing law - Infobae

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Con el apoyo del macrismo, el Gobierno logró mantener el veto a la ley de financiamiento universitario
Los libertarios lograron sumar 85 votos gracias a un sector de la UCR y a los tucumanos que responden al gobernador Osvaldo Jaldo. La ley aumentaba los salarios por inflación de forma retroactiva a enero y la Casa Rosada la rechazó porque ponía en peligro el equilibrio fiscal. Cómo jugaron los...

October 09, 2024
The libertarians managed to add 85 votes thanks to a sector of the UCR and the Tucumans who respond to Governor Osvaldo Jaldo. The law increased wages by inflation retroactively to January and the Casa Rosada rejected it because it endangered the fiscal balance. How the governors played

By Federico Millenaar

The Government managed to maintain the veto of the university financing law
President Javier Milei has achieved a new victory in Congress by protecting his veto of the university financing law . The Government had rejected the law that updated teaching and non-teaching salaries based on inflation – retroactive to January and until December – because it considered that it put fiscal balance at risk , a cornerstone of the economic plan.
After several weeks of tensions with their allies and frantic negotiations with unions and governors, the libertarians gathered 85 votes in defense of the veto , while the opposition could barely muster 160 to insist on the original project . Since the Chamber of Deputies needs two-thirds of those present to reject a presidential veto, absences and abstentions played a key role.
Mauricio Macri 's intervention was crucial in putting the PRO bench in order, which was experiencing strong internal tensions. Some considered that the crisis with the teachers' unions had escalated due to a lack of negotiation and also understood that the cost of 0.14 of GDP did not really put fiscal balance at risk. Finally, despite repeatedly clarifying, before and during the session itself, that they were defending public education , the block led by Cristian Ritondo supported the Government by a majority with 35 votes. Only the Larretistas Álvaro González and Héctor Baldassi voted with the opposition , while Héctor Stefani was absent due to health problems.

Cristian Ritondo and Silvia Lospennato, from PRO (Adrian Escandar)
“This bloc is responsible and consistent with what we said in the campaign, with what we think and with the values we have. We do not negotiate change,” said Ritondo . He added: “They left a bomb that had to be defused, and to do so, spending had to be adjusted, the deficit reduced, relative prices corrected, exchange rates normalized, and that is what this government is doing. They do not care about education, it is a lie, they care about hitting a government that has parliamentary weakness , it is trying to make this government do badly.”
For their part, the libertarians maintained the 39 votes of their bloc, but the rebel deputy Lourdes Arrieta , who recently formed her own bloc following a fight with Martín Menem after the visit to repressors at the Ezeiza prison, voted in favor of university financing. Oscar Zago , head of the allied bloc of the MID, was absent due to a trip that those close to him clarified had been planned for months.
Radicalism , the original promoter of the university financing project, once again went through the same internal turbulence that had already left the bloc on the verge of breaking up when the veto of the new retirement formula was discussed. This time, of the five "libertarian" radicals who supported the veto of the pensions, four stood firm alongside Milei (Luis Picat, José Tournier, Martín Arjol and Mariano Campero) ; while Pablo Cervi this time decided to abstain.
When a deputy abstains in part, he or she is collaborating with the ruling party since by being present during the session, the number necessary to reach the special majority of two thirds increases.

Maximo Kirchner, from Union for the Homeland
However, Chubut native Jorge Ávila , from the Encuentro Federal bloc , was absent after the intervention of Governor Ignacio Torres. Close to the governor, they clarified that the deputy ended up hospitalized with a health problem, something that his colleagues in the bloc denied. The rest of Miguel Ángel Pichetto 's bloc supported the university claim, except for Ricardo López Murphy, who is also traveling and missed the session.
The balance was finally tipped in favor of the Casa Rosada thanks to the governors, who once again played hard. For example, the Tucuman Osvaldo Jaldo instructed the three members of the Independencia block to support the veto and the missionary Carlos Rovira , political leader of the Frente Renovador de la Concordia, did the same with four missionary deputies of Federal Innovation who abstained (in August they had voted in favor of the University). The San Juan governor Marcelo Orrego , on the other hand, contributed two deputies against the Government. “San Juan is the land of Sarmiento and public education, the governor was not going to give that flank to the Peronism of Uñac and Gioja so that they could attack him,” explained an operator. It was the first vote that they distanced themselves from the officialism.
The governor of Santa Cruz, Claudio Vidal , played it ambiguous. One of his deputies, Sergio Acevedo , voted in favor of the veto, while his fellow party member José Luis Garrido defended the veto. A maneuver that is difficult to analyze.
In order to broaden consensus and ensure the support of the PRO, the Government did not stop negotiating with the teachers' unions and yesterday announced an increase in the Teachers' Salary Guarantee, which is the minimum salary that professionals receive out of pocket for their position and after deducting mandatory contributions. The increase will be retroactive and will mean that from July 1st the salary in question will have a floor of $420,000, which is added to the 6.8% increase for teaching and non-teaching staff at National Universities for October, which is still below the union's demand.
The Union for the Fatherland positioned itself almost unanimously against the veto. However, an absence raised alarms in the bloc led by Germán Martínez: Catamarcan Fernanda Ávila was absent from the vote - although she was in her office - due to a negotiation between the Casa Rosada and Governor Raúl Jalil . Both the Civic Coalition and the Left Front were able to leave the session without any problems and provided all their votes to reject the veto.
“The need to adjust teachers’ salaries is undeniable, but there is no credit available to cover a raise significantly above the increases received by the rest of the public administration employees. Salary indexation, in addition to being an inertial practice, is unviable. Why index the salaries of teachers and not of other public agents?”, asked the libertarian deputy Mercedes Llano.
“ Public education is not in danger, do not be afraid . It is ridiculous to think that the government that declared education as an essential service is behind an attempt to end public education. We are against the scams,” summarized José Luis Espert , who was in charge of the closing speech for the libertarians.
At the end of the session, the opposition managed to approve a summons to the committees of General Legislation, Constitutional Affairs and Petitions, Powers and Regulations
Summons to the General Legislation, Constitutional Affairs and Powers, Petitions and Regulations committees to discuss the draft reforms of Law 26.122 on Decrees of Necessity and Urgency. There will be two informational meetings on October 16 and 23, with a decision to be issued on the 30th of the same month.