Milei’s bill approved by congressional committees

President Javier Milei’s measures to shore up public accounts and reduce the presence of the state in the economy succeeded through its first test in congress.

The so-called 'Omnibus bill'  was approved by members of the general, budget and constitutional committees in the first hours of Wednesday, after debates that had started late in the previous day. It received the support of 55 lawmakers, although 34 expressed partial disagreement, according to local newspapers La Nación and Clarîn. 

Milei’s party, which had spent the day in negotiations with governors and house representatives, now wants to take the bill to a vote on the floor of the lower house on Thursday, one day after labour movements are set to organise a national strike against Milei’s austerity measures.

The president’s nascent libertarian party has about 15 percent of the seats in the lower house Chamber of Deputies and 10 percent in the Senate, while Peronism and the left-wing parties have just under half of the votes in each chamber.

Milei counts on the support of the pro-business PRO party and more moderate members of two other political groups — Unión Cívica Radical and Hacemos por Nuestro Pais — to push through his reforms.