The final decision will now be in the hands of the Senate
Both votes were led by opposition blocs, with strong participation from Kirchnerism and sectors that had supported the initiatives in previous sessions. With this result, the bills move forward to the Senate, where they must obtain the same level of support for the vetoes to be definitively annulled.
In a session driven by Kirchnerism and the rest of the opposition, the Chamber of Deputies rejected on Tuesday the presidential vetoes issued by Javier Milei regarding the declaration of "Pediatrics Emergency" and the law for the increase of university funding, which aim to break the State and destroy the fiscal surplus.
In the first case, the veto of the pediatric emergency bill was rejected with 181 votes in favor, 60 against, and 1 abstention. This way, the initiative obtained preliminary approval and must continue its process in the Senate. The proposal had previously been approved in both chambers, but President Milei decided to veto it in its entirety.
Minutes later, the plenary session of the Lower House also addressed the presidential veto of the university funding law, which proposed an increase in allocations for national educational institutions. In this case, the rejection received 174 votes in favor, 67 against, and 2 abstentions, representing another parliamentary setback for the ruling party.
Milei's government had vetoed the laws because significant increases had already been made in the areas involved. In the case of Garrahan Hospital, the libertarian administration reported that the assigned budget increased by 247% since the beginning of the administration, a figure that represents 124 points above the accumulated inflation during the period. In addition, they highlighted that during 2024 the hospital's doctors received a 63% salary increase.
Regarding the university system, Argentina's spending on higher education is at levels comparable to or even higher than those of G20 countries, including Japan, Israel, and Ireland, according to statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
With these rejections, the Chamber of Deputies gave preliminary approval to the legislative challenges against the presidential vetoes. Now the final decision will be in the hands of the Senate.
