It also establishes the call for collective bargaining within three months to increase the salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff, and provides for an increase in student scholarships, among other points that would trigger public spending.
The project aims to destroy the fiscal surplus achieved by Milei's government and create a new economic crisis
It also establishes the call for collective bargaining within three months to increase the salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff, and provides for an increase in student scholarships, among other points that would trigger public spending.
From the beginning of the debate, libertarian legislators expressed their opposition to the bill, arguing that its implementation would entail an excessive fiscal expenditure that would jeopardize the primary surplus, considered the central pillar of the government's economic program. It should be recalled that President Javier Milei already vetoed a similar proposal in 2024, citing the same reasons.
After the approval of an increase in university funding without explaining where the money to cover the new expenses would come from, Milei's La Libertad Avanza posted on social media that "THE FISCAL SURPLUS IS NOT NEGOTIABLE".
This Wednesday, the Kirchnerist opposition achieved in the Chamber of Deputies the preliminary approval of a bill that, under the pretext of "guaranteeing the funding of national universities," seeks to destroy the fiscal surplus achieved by Javier Milei's government and generate a new economic crisis.
The vote took place during a session that promoted bills such as the increase of the university and teaching salary budget without a funding source, the declaration of various emergencies (pediatric health, science and technology) that only serve to justify new expenditures, and the repeal of key presidential decrees regarding transportation, culture, merchant marine, and the decentralization of trusts.
The initiative approved in the Chamber of Deputies received 158 votes in favor, 75 against, and 5 abstentions. The main blocs that voted in favor were Unión por la Patria, Democracia para Siempre, Encuentro Federal, the Coalición Cívica, the Frente de Izquierda, and the Unión Cívica Radical.
The bill was introduced by the dissident Radical bloc Democracia para Siempre, together with the rectors grouped in the National Interuniversity Council (CIN). The proposal includes an automatic inflation adjustment for the operating expenses of universities, university hospitals, and funds allocated to research, without explaining where the funding would come from.