News of senate

Double blow for Milei: Senate passes university bill, blocks SIDE cash

13-09-2024 11:04 Milei’s cash for spy services blocked as both chambers of Congress block presidential decree for first time since 1994; Senate approves law providing salary increases and boosting budget for universities facing funding “emergency.”

POLITICS

La Libertad Avanza senators oust Paoltroni from upper house caucus

29-08-2024 16:11 Formosa Senator Francisco Paoltroni forms his own single-member caucus in the Senate after angering allies with criticism of government policy.

POLITICS, CONGRESS & COURTS

Ariel Lijo defends Supreme Court candidacy before Senate

22-08-2024 19:22 Federal Judge Ariel Lijo, whose nomination for the nation’s highest tribunal has been questioned by politicians across the spectrum, pushes back against criticism in eight-hour hearing.

POLITICS & JUDICIARY

Key week for Ariel Lijo, Milei’s nomination for Supreme Court bench

19-08-2024 15:40 Federal Judge Ariel Lijo has presented a document to the Senate attempting to answer more than 400 questions sent by citizens; Supreme Court nominee will now defend his work as magistrate in a key Senate committee hearing.

Congress & Politics

Congress set for final showdown on Milei's sweeping reform package

27-06-2024 12:01 Session scheduled to begin at midday and signs indicate the Milei government will secure its first legislative victory since taking office more than six months ago.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Senate approves RIGI, privatisations, delegation of powers

13-06-2024 19:43 Key articles, including most controversial, ended up being approved in the Senate. Capital whitewash and the moratorium for tax arrears passed unanimously but government unable to gain support for restoration of income tax or reform of levies on personal assets.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Milei’s bill clears Senate, capping off week of wins

13-06-2024 19:01 Government eyes end of month lower house session for President’s flagship ‘Ley de Bases’ reform bill and accompanying fiscal package; Victory in upper house comes after chaotic scenes outside Congress.

MARKET REACTION

Traders cheer on Argentina as Milei win underpins austerity push

13-06-2024 15:30 Investors welcome congressional approval of President Javier Milei’s 'omnibus' bill.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Milei gets partial win on reform bills after protests

13-06-2024 00:48 President Milei‘s signature reform package eked out preliminary approval in the Senate, but its most important fiscal measures face strong opposition in a piece-by-piece vote.

Congress & Politics

Milei's 'Ley de Bases' bill clears Senate as VP casts decisive vote

12-06-2024 23:24 Senate gives general approval to President Milei's 'Ley de Bases' mega-reform bill after fresh round of amendments.

Congress & Politics

Senate begins debate on Milei’s ‘Ley de Bases’ mega-reform bill

12-06-2024 12:15 Senators open debate on President Javier Milei's flagship 'Ley de Bases' reform bill as demonstrations begin outside Congress.

Congress & Politics

Senate poses fresh challenge to Milei’s reform bills

05-06-2024 23:26 Opposition senators are pulling together the votes to reject bids to reintroduce income taxes, expand powers and privatise state-owned companies.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Argentina bonds climb as Milei deregulation plan moves forward

30-05-2024 14:02 Members of Senate general, budget and constitutional committees approve sending the so-called 'omnibus' bill to all senators.

Congress & Politics

Milei’s sweeping deregulation plan passes first Senate hurdle

30-05-2024 09:53 Lawmakers reach consensus with 'Ley de Bases' bill moving to a Senate floor vote, which by law is at least a week away.

POLITICS & ECONOMY

Posse predicts 139% inflation as he finally turns up in Congress

16-05-2024 00:53 Eight-hour debut for Cabinet chief in Congress as he forecasts 139.7% percent annual inflation, a dollar at 1,016 pesos by year-end and defends paralysis of public works projects.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Government gears up for ‘omnibus’ Senate showdown

08-05-2024 21:33 Make-or-break vote on sweeping reform bill likely to take place next week; Numbers look challenging for La Libertad Avanza, which will need support of allies to secure passage.

NO HAY PLATA?

Rebellion in Senate: Pay increase passed by show of hands and without debate

18-04-2024 17:40 Milei lashes out via social networks after senators vote to approve pay increase; "2025 will see a historic hiding" for the caste, says President.

INTERVIEW / PERIODISMO PURO

Martín Lousteau: ‘I’m not afraid of leaders with an authoritarian streak’

06-04-2024 06:09 Senator and UCR chair on why the mega DNU emergency decree was unconstitutional, President Milei’s economic plan and Radical renewal.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Senate set for debate as Milei's deregulation decree hangs in balance

13-03-2024 15:48 Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, in her role as head of Senate, accepts opposition's request for debate and calls special session for Thursday to address President Javier Milei's sweeping emergency deregulation decree.

Congress & Politics

Congress resumes 'article by article' debate on omnibus law

06-02-2024 13:58 The lower house of Congress resumes detailed debate of Milei’s reform package on Tuesday, which Deputies have already approved "in general."

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Going to the dogs?

16-12-2023 07:20 This final election 2023 column concludes a series running the length of the campaign – now it’s time to detail the resulting political architecture in the present tense.

by Michael Soltys

ANALYSIS

New Congress will condition Milei’s bid for reform

08-12-2023 00:37 Javier Milei's radical reforms are likely to be heavily conditioned by Congress, with the libertarian leader's caucus a minority in both houses.

POLITICS

Milei’s team for Congress: Menem for lower house, Paoltroni in Senate

04-12-2023 18:00 Heads of lower and upper houses will be libertarians “following democratic tradition of last 40 years,” says president-elect’s office;

VICE-PRESIDENTIAL HANDOVER

Fernández de Kirchner, Villarruel hold ‘historic’ transition meeting

23-11-2023 00:48 “Cordial and respectful” meeting held in the outgoing vice-president’s office at Senate, with no photographs taken; Villarruel says she will be "working all summer through."

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Crouching tiger, hidden lion

28-10-2023 04:18 Fear of the unknown is such a conservative emotion that instead people ended up clinging to the status quo, inflation and scandals included.

by Michael Soltys

ELECTION 2023 – RESULTS

Peronists to be first minority in Congress as libertarians boost legislative numbers

25-10-2023 15:19 La Libertad Avanza has had only three deputies since the 2021 midterms, including the candidate himself, but that is all set to change. The libertarians have boosted representation dramatically in the lower house and its number of senators in the upper chamber.

Campaign comments

Expecting every voter to do their duty

21-10-2023 05:51 While tomorrow’s election is widely seen as a three-cornered affair (like the hats in the times of Trafalgar), all three of its fleets tend to believe that there are only two sides. Could tomorrow’s election echo the battle by ultimately leading to a breakdown of existing alliances with a new Argentina eventually resulting?

by Michael Soltys

'Ganancias' bill in Congress

Income tax bill clears lower house with support from Milei, left-wingers

20-09-2023 16:38 Bill to raise ‘ganancias’ threshold to 1.77 million pesos approved by lower house; 135 Frente de Todos, provincial party, leftist and libertarian deputies, among others, back it; 103 votes against, mostly Juntos por el Cambio.

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Santa Fe not so holy or faithful

15-07-2023 06:56 Turning to tomorrow’s PASO primary in Santa Fe, the mutual backstabbing within Juntos por el Cambio mentioned above is far from absent there – indeed nowhere else is the internal warfare more open.

by Michael Soltys

EDITORIAL

A parlous parliament

15-07-2023 06:53 Congress might be virtually ignored in this election campaign and yet its pivotal role should not be underestimated by any of the presidential candidates.

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

The elections according to Saint John

08-07-2023 06:59 San Juan is not an especially attractive city for tourists but it does have an uncanny knack for being a venue for key turning-points in Argentine political history.

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

The men in the middle

01-07-2023 08:46 Hard not to read this as an unmitigated defeat for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner but those who see her as the ultimate political genius view this as a cunning move to leave Massa holding the baby for an inevitable national defeat while tightening her own grip on pivotal Buenos Aires Province.

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Northwest by northeast

24-06-2023 01:22 We will have to await Chaco’s final provincial elections on September 17 to see how many degrees last Sunday’s political earthquake rated on the Richter scale.

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Toward zero

17-06-2023 06:10 This is an election in which anything could happen – and also nothing, as is occurring in province after province. Pseudo-change in San Luis and a rock-solid majority in Tucumán attest to an underlying provincial continuity at all odds with a volatile national scenario.

by Michael Soltys

AND THAT REMINDS ME…

Of infighting and inland voting

10-06-2023 06:27 The deadline for defining electoral alliances nationwide expires in only four days’ time but tomorrow’s provincial elections are even more immediate … Tucumán is looking safe for the Frente de Todos government while San Luis could be close.

by Michael Soltys

Campaign comments

Umpteen candidates in search of an author

03-06-2023 06:08 If Horacio Rodríguez Larreta had again thwarted Mauricio Macri plans by imposing Fernán Quirós over Jorge Macri, this would have been three strikes and out in the PRO founder’s esteem – a hostility potentially fatal to the outgoing City mayor’s presidential ambitions.

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

A no-win election

27-05-2023 06:45 The fact remains that the last three people to run Argentina have all opted to sit this election out. The only question here is what lies behind their “fear to tread.”

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Under the volcano

20-05-2023 07:00 If three-quarters of the disenchanted in Tierra del Fuego preferred to vote blank than for an explicitly libertarian candidate, who is to say this might not be replicated nationwide?

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Three’s a crowd

06-05-2023 06:47 Tomorrow is Jujuy’s turn to go to the polls together with La Rioja and Misiones – can lightning strike twice?

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

Out of the pink (house) and into the blue

29-04-2023 06:55 In a country where the urgent almost invariably displaces the important, Alberto Fernández’s premature entry into “lame duck” status has had immediate consequences.

by Michael Soltys

CAMPAIGN COMMENTS

PRO or provincial?

21-04-2023 09:56 Does the end of six decades of one-party rule in Neuquén mark a new era for the province now and for the nation later this year?

by Michael Soltys

NAZI ACCOUNTS PROBE

Credit Suisse accused of hindering probe into Nazi accounts

19-04-2023 10:13 Credit Suisse accused of impeding an investigation into its historical assistance to Nazis that had revealed a number of previously undisclosed accounts, including 99 allegedly linked to German officials or Nazi-affiliated groups in Argentina.

Campaign comments

April is the cruellest month

08-04-2023 06:02 The results of the local elections so far are puzzling – incumbents winning in often heavy turnouts when opinion poll after opinion poll is telling us that there are masses of angry and alienated voters out there.

by Michael Soltys

Politics

Frente de Todos split in Senate: Four senators form new caucus

23-02-2023 00:53 Setback for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the Senate with the fragmentation of the ruling coalition’s caucus. New Unidad Federal bloc formed by Edgardo Kueider, Carlos Espínola, Guillermo Snopek, Eugenia Catalfamo and Alejandra Vigo.