Argentina’s Milei suffers political blow as veto overrides restore university and health funding
By Mahima Kapoor
Argentinian lawmakers overturned two vetoes by President Javier Milei on Thursday, marking a setback for the leader ahead of the midterm election which could shape the future of his controversial economic reforms.
Argentina President Javier Milei
The Argentinian Senate invalidated his vetoes on laws to increase funding for public universities and pediatric health care.
The vetoes had already been rejected by the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies.
The development marks another blow to the budget-slashing Milei’s aura of political invincibility.
The opposition-controlled Senate first overturned one of his vetoes in September, reinstating a measure which increased spending for people with disabilities.
This comes at a time when Milei — who has built his presidency on austerity measures and drastic economic reforms — is seeing his popularity drop amid a corruption scandal and public weariness. While his reforms have tamed inflation, his dramatic welfare cuts have severely affected universities, public hospitals and pensioners.
His party was defeated at the polls in Buenos Aires’ provincial polls last month as a result, an outcome which was seen as indicative of the mood going into the upcoming elections.
“There’s a sensation of disenchantment and anger with the impact of the cutbacks,” Sebastian Halperin, a political consultant in Buenos Aires, told Reuters. He noted Milei had failed to build crucial alliances to sway votes in Congress.
Meanwhile, the 54-year leader is struggling to shore up the Argentinian peso ahead of a meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss a credit swap line.
Argentina’s Senate overwhelmingly voted to overturn Milei’s vetoes by 59-7 for the bill boosting public funding for universities and 58-7 for the one on pediatric health care.
The president had blocked the bills arguing the country did not have enough money and that the new spending would jeopardize the fiscal balance.
After the Senate vote, some people gathered outside Congress to celebrate. “We’ve been fighting and resisting the government’s atrocious underfunding of national universities for over a year,” psychology student Tomas Bossi told the AFP news agency.
Left-wing Senator Daniel Bensusan argued that the debate over public funding was not “technical, fiscal, or accounting-related,” but “political and moral.”
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Credit: Reuters
