Argentina’s Congress fails to overturn Milei’s university funding veto

[MilHojas]

Argentina’s Congress fails to overturn Milei’s university funding veto

Lower house of Congress fails to achieve a two-thirds majority needed to overrule president’s veto despite mass protests

www.aljazeera.com

 

[LuckyLuke]

Argentina’s Congress fails to overturn Milei’s university funding veto

Lower house of Congress fails to achieve a two-thirds majority needed to overrule president’s veto despite mass protests

www.aljazeera.com

It's a shame...this would have been a great opportunity for Milei to define and ultimately defend a coherent plan for tackling the increasing poverty level here. If you are going to do away with soup kitchens and welfare programs in the name of fiscal balancing, you should at least champion something that's been proven to break generational poverty... accessible higher education. He could have easily closed some of the budget gap by putting more stringent qualifications for immigrants applying.

 

[SinPulgas]

It's a shame...this would have been a great opportunity for Milei to define and ultimately defend a coherent plan for tackling the increasing poverty level here. If you are going to do away with soup kitchens and welfare programs in the name of fiscal balancing, you should at least champion something that's been proven to break generational poverty... accessible higher education. He could have easily closed some of the budget gap by putting more stringent qualifications for immigrants applying.

The veto was not about that. The government supports the universities. Here is what Luis Caputo, Economy Minister, said this morning on X, responding to a diputada that was against the veto:

Estimada Alejandra, tu postura hacia las Universidades no es muy diferente a la del gobierno nacional. Nosotros también estamos a favor de las universidades públicas.Solo queremos que se auditen los gastos, porque es lo que corresponde dado que la plata es del contribuyente y no nuestra. Y si entre todos concluimos que las Universidades necesitan más plata, se debe proponer como se financia ese nuevo gasto, como lo indica la Ley de Administración Financiera y el propio Reglamento del Senado. En resumen, el veto NO es contra el financiamiento universitario, sino contra la ley propuesta, porque precisamente, NO incluye el financiamiento universitario. Saludos cordiales

 

[LuckyLuke]

The veto was not about that. The government supports the universities. Here is what Luis Caputo, Economy Minister, said this morning on X, responding to a diputada that was against the veto:

Pardon my ignorance of Argentine politics, but it seems pretty clear to me that the audit is not the issue, but rather that the Economic Minister is requesting that the representative, regardless of the audit findings, should explain how the government will finance the additional cost of the proposed IPC indexed university budget.

This doesn't seem to elaborate the justification of the rejection beyond Caputo simply repeating Milei's "no hay plata".

Am I missing something deeper here?

 

[SinPulgas]

Pardon my ignorance of Argentine politics, but it seems pretty clear to me that the audit is not the issue, but rather that the Economic Minister is requesting that the representative, regardless of the audit findings, should explain how the government will finance the additional cost of the proposed IPC indexed university budget.

This doesn't seem to elaborate the justification of the rejection beyond Caputo simply repeating Milei's "no hay plata".

Am I missing something deeper here?

I wrote a long response and closed the window by mistake and lost it. So this time I'll be short.

I think you've got it mostly right, except that universities here are very political, dozens have been created and funded over the past 20 years by kirchnerista governments with -- depending on who you believe -- practically no controls or accountability, and it's a lot of money.

Here's something else Caputo said, before the voting to overturn the veto. His (and the government's) point is that this law to finance universities is illegal, because a law enacted by congress that spends money must show where the money will come from, and this one doesn't.

El ministro de Economía, Luis “Toto” Caputo aseguró que el Gobierno Nacional irá a la Justicia si el Congreso de la Nación logra revertir el veto a la Ley de Financiamiento Universitario. “Están presentando un gasto sin contrapartida”, se quejó el funcionario. Y agregó que si el Congreso logra revertir el veto “Lo vamos a apelar porque está mal”, subrayó el ministro de Economía.

Caputo argumentó que “lo que dice la ley de Administración Financiera es que el Congreso no puede presentar un gasto sin una contrapartida de financiamiento que lo justifique” y enfatizó “probablemente lo haremos por la vía de la justicia, o administrativa, siempre en el marco de la ley, si ésta nos da la razón”.

It's much more complicated than saying, "If you veto the bill, you're against public education."

Source of above quote: https://canal12web.com/nacionales/el-gobierno-ira-a-la-justicia-si-el-congreso-rechaza-el-veto/

Sorry, I wanted to answer you better, but I can't (well, I won't) spend the time to rewrite what I had written before.

Anyway, there's a small army of people on here that will probably now explain to you why I'm terribly and completely wrong, and I've been trying to avoid getting involved in all the political wars in all the threads here, so I won't get involved if another one breaks out here.

 

[antipodean]

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Straight from the “devils” mouth...
If one party is asking to increase their budget it seems entirely reasonable to be asked to (a) substantiate the need and (b) be transparent with where the money allocated in said budget is going before such request can be be approved and/ or negotiated. Especially in a context such as here where massive corruption in state institutions is and has been rife for decades.

 

[FrankPintor]

Pardon my ignorance of Argentine politics, but it seems pretty clear to me that the audit is not the issue, but rather that the Economic Minister is requesting that the representative, regardless of the audit findings, should explain how the government will finance the additional cost of the proposed IPC indexed university budget.

This doesn't seem to elaborate the justification of the rejection beyond Caputo simply repeating Milei's "no hay plata".

Am I missing something deeper here?

Is this "audit" topic a red herring? The rector of the UBA gave a fairly robust statement, where he said that the last audit was in 2023: “En el caso particular de la UBA, la última auditoria que la AGN realizó, finalizó en el año 2023, tal cual se desprende de la propia página web del organismo”, as well as internal audits carried out by the individual universities.

From: https://www.infobae.com/politica/20...cer-afirmaciones-falaces-y-mal-intencionadas/

A government worth the name would make a proposal for financing higher education, rather than just vetoing the only proposal under consideration.

 

[antipodean]

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Straight from the “devils” mouth...
If one party is asking to increase their budget it seems entirely reasonable to be asked to (a) substantiate the need and (b) be transparent with where the money allocated in said budget is going before such request can be be approved and/ or negotiated. Especially in a context such as here where massive corruption in state institutions is and has been rife for decades.

For some added context of the audit issue:

Auditorías a universidades nacionales: quién debe controlarlas y cómo es el proceso

La crítica del gobierno de Javier Milei (La Libertad Avanza) a la falta de control y de auditorías sobre las universidades nacionales se convirtió en un tema de discusión en medio del...

chequeado.com

“En la actualidad, la AGN tiene 6 informes en proceso, y en los últimos años solo aprobó 3 informes, de los cuales solo 1 está vinculado a la UBA, correspondiente a la Facultad de Psicología, auditada en 2018. Los otros 2 corresponden a períodos auditados en 2017. Por lo tanto, no es cierto que las universidades, particularmente la UBA, tengan más auditorías que otros sectores del Estado”.

 

[carride]

Meanwhile in the middle of the negotiations are the professors and all staff.

—
“We are losing the most valuable asset that the public university creates: highly qualified professionals who support research and technological development in our country,” she said.

According to the communiqué, delays in updating the budget following cuts and inflation accumulated to the point where FAUBA salaries were well below others in the public sector. The lag is leading many young professors to leave their posts to settle and work in universities abroad.

The statement notes that staff “earn no more than 900 thousand pesos (US$923 at the official rate, US$772 at the MEP rate) per month.”
—

Over 30 UBA Agronomy Faculty teachers resign due to wage stagnation - Buenos Aires Herald

Dean Adriana Rodríguez claims the university is losing its ‘most valuable asset’

buenosairesherald.com

 

[FrankPintor]

It's the responsibility of Congress to order audits by the AGN. It's part of what one could consider good governance, something in short supply here. And it would be difficult for the UBA to obstruct any audit given the response by its rector. Lots of info here:

Conflicto del Gobierno con las universidades: el titular de la AGN aseguró que las auditorías deben ser ordenadas por el Congreso

Lo dijo Juan Manuel Olmos, que está al frente de la Auditoría General de la Nación.La gestión de Milei intenta promover un mayor control sobre las casas de estudio, en medio del reclamo presupuestario que impulsó la multitudinaria marcha de ayer.

www.clarin.com

Auditorías: La falacia que quiso instalar el Gobierno Nacional - UTN.BA

Días antes de la movilización en defensa de las universidades, funcionarios del gobierno nacional empezaron a reclamar auditorías sobre el manejo de los fondos públicos, una estrategia con la que buscó desprestigiar a las casas de altos estudios. ¿El gobierno desconocía que la AGN audita a las...

www.frba.utn.edu.ar

This more or less sums up the situation: "[Milei] is making an adjustment to public spending without looking at what he is cutting. Without prioritizing what spending to cut and what spending cannot be cut, and in this brutality he is causing a mess that affects all sectors.
the National General Archive (AGN)".

Nobody is avoiding or obstructing audits, but nobody is ordering them either. It's just the everyday malfeasance we're coming to expect of this government. Someone else is always to blame.