Milei vetoes Argentina pension bill amid congressional tension
President vetoes bill that would force Argentina’s government to boost pension payments, laying bare growing tensions between his La Libertad Avanza party and its allies in Congress.
President Javier Milei vetoed a bill Monday that would force Argentina’s government to boost pension payments, laying bare growing tensions between his La Libertad Avanza party and its allies in an opposition-controlled Congress.
The bill, which aimed to compensate retirees for monthly inflation of 25.5 percent in January, gained approval from two-thirds majorities in both houses before reaching Milei’s desk. The wide vote margins mean Congress will likely overturn the presidential veto in coming weeks.
All but one senator from PRO, the business-friendly party founded by former president Mauricio Macri, joined the moderate and left-wing segments of the chamber to expand pension payments in a 61 to 8 vote. The remaining PRO senator voted with the seven libertarians in the upper chamber to reject the measure.
Macri criticised the anti-austerity votes cast by his lawmakers and signalled support for Milei’s veto last week. Tensions, however, have grown within PRO ranks in recent months as some lawmakers seek to deepen ties with Milei’s party and others — including Macri — stake a claim to their differences.
Last month, lawmakers in the lower house Chamber of Deputies, including some PRO members, rejected Milei’s executive order to increase the national intelligence budget. The Senate has yet to gather enough votes to overturn the measure.
The pension bill would cost the equivalent of 1.02 percent of gross domestic product this year and 1.64 percent of GDP next year were it to take effect, according to the veto announcement in the Official Gazette. That increase would make it impossible for Milei’s government to meet its fiscal targets for 2024 and beyond.
related news
-
Broker returns US $10 million in profit from Argentine ghost bonds
-
Bolivia’s President Luis Arce charts exit from financial crisis
-
Economic crisis thwarts bid to go nuclear with lithium bounty
-
US soy is so cheap that even rival Argentina is buying it
-
Milei government declares air transport an ‘essential service’
-
IMF eyes decision on loan-penalty relief by October meetings
-
Headline figures from Milei government’s 2025 Budget
-
President presents 2025 Budget, says zero deficit is a must
-
Milei projects inflation plunging to 18% by end-2025
-
Worrying data behind August inflation rate and projections for September