Argentina lawmakers fail to overturn Milei veto of university funding
Updates with comments from lawmakers in paragraphs 5, 10
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 9 (Reuters) -Argentina's lower house of Congress failed onWednesday to muster the votes needed to reverse President Javier Milei's veto of a law that would have boosted university funding, a win for the libertarian leader after mass protests opposing his move.
Milei vetoed a bill last month that would haveupdated publicuniversity funding in line with Argentina's triple-digit inflation rate, one of the world's highest. Thousands of people have since demonstrated against his cuts to education and healthcare.
Lawmakers voted 160 in favor of the university funding law with 84 against and 5 abstentions, falling six votes short of the two-thirds majority of those present needed to reverse the president's veto.
Milei's far-right party makes up only a small minority in Congress, but it has formed alliances with conservative lawmakers to prevent the opposition from gathering the two-thirds needed to ratify the law.
"What we saw today was a power struggle," conservative PRO party lawmaker Alejandro Finocchiaro told reporters. "If the presidential veto did not pass, it would have been a very bad sign for markets."
Milei argues that the law would jeopardize a fiscal balance he has promoted to tackle a long-running economic crisis, and has pledged to veto anything thatthreatens it. Argentina's health, pension and education spending have been the hardest hit by Milei's public cuts.
The law vetoed by Milei would have adjusted public education budgets due to inflation. University salaries have lost around 40% of their purchasing power due to inflation.
Under Milei's austerity drive, high inflation has started to slow but Argentina is deep in recession and poverty rates have surged over 50%.
But opposition to the president's spending cuts, especially to education funding, still retains impassioned supporters.
"The right to public education defines our nation," opposition center-left UCR party lawmaker Facundo Manes said during the veto debate. "Education is the best economic policy of the 21st century, which is why we will not give up defending it."
Reporting by Nicolas Misculin and Walter Bianchi; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Chris Reese, Leslie Adler and Mark Porter
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
