The opposition forced a session to insist on regulations that compromise fiscal balance
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The Chamber of Deputies began a key session this Tuesday to define the future of two laws vetoed by President Javier Milei: the University Funding Law and the Pediatric Emergency Law.
The opposition managed to gather a quorum with 132 legislators present versus 125 absent, in an attempt to insist on regulations that increase public spending on education and health, despite the Government's warnings about the impact these measures would have on fiscal balance.
The ruling party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), accompanied by PRO in most of its seats, faces the vote with the need to retain one third of the votes to uphold the vetoes. The Executive argues that the laws in question are incompatible with the macroeconomic stabilization strategy, since they require additional expenditures without genuine funding, directly affecting the ongoing stabilization plan.
In the presidential circle, the opposition's advance is described as "coup-mongering," as it seeks to "overturn fiscal balance and thereby bring down Milei's economic plan."
Cecilia Moreau - Diputada de la Nación Argentina.
The session was opened by Deputy Cecilia Moreau, first vice president of the Chamber, due to the delay of President Martín Menem. The quorum was celebrated by the Unión por la Patria bloc and provincial sectors, which have the support of UCR at this stage. Outside Congress, teachers' unions, student groups, and social organizations mobilized in support of the insistence on the laws.
According to what was agreed in the Parliamentary Labor meeting, the debate will last approximately 13 hours. The first part is dedicated to tributes and matters of privilege, after which the Pediatric Emergency Law will be addressed, with a vote scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Later, university funding will be discussed, in parallel with a student march called at the entrance of Congress.
The Government warned that both initiatives, in their original wording, represent a structural increase in expenditures that compromises the deficit reduction objectives. In the previous vote, the laws had reached the two-thirds threshold, with the ruling party well below the 87 votes required to shield the veto: only 75 in universities and 67 in the Garrahan Law. This time, absences and abstentions will be decisive, especially among PRO legislators and provincial blocs that respond to dialogue-oriented governors.
Meanwhile, among the decrees the opposition seeks to annul is the one that prohibits gender reassignment surgeries and treatments for minors. For the Government, this measure protects children from irreversible decisions that are not appropriate for their stage of development and should wait until adulthood. The intention to repeal this type of provision reflects, according to the Executive, an attempt to dismantle key regulations that safeguard both the integrity of minors and institutional order.
La oposición logró reunir quórum con 132 legisladores presentes frente a 125 ausentes.
The discussion will take place in a climate of growing legislative tension. In addition to the vetoes, the opposition seeks to instruct the Constitutional Affairs Committee to move forward with a bill that limits the use of Necessity and Urgency Decrees (DNU), a central tool of the Executive. The ruling party is betting that the session will be interrupted before reaching that point.
This bill stipulates that each decree must have the express approval of both Chambers and eliminates the current requirement of rejection by both, requiring only one. The ruling party warns that this reform would mean a weakening of the constitutional tool that allows for quick responses in critical situations, putting governability at risk.
If the vetoes are rejected, the decision will pass to the Senate, where the opposition has a clear majority. For the Government, this would mean a severe blow in political terms, but above all a setback in the central objective of consolidating fiscal balance. In this regard, the Casa Rosada emphasizes that the opposition's strategy is not neutral: "These are laws that seek to impose spending without funding, putting the economic course and the stability achieved at risk. These are not innocuous initiatives, these are coup-mongering laws".
Due to time constraints, although they were included in the parliamentary schedule, several planned bills will not be addressed in today's session. Among them are the reform of the National Disability Agency, the declaration of Emergency in Science, Technology, and Innovation, the creation of a commission to investigate fentanyl, and the National Plan for the Prevention of Unintended Adolescent Pregnancy.
