In another setback to Milei, Argentina Congress limits his power to govern by decree

Argentina’s Congress on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to restrict President Javier Milei’s ability to govern by decree – the latest in a string of setbacks for the right-wing leader.

Milei, whose party is in a minority in parliament, has issued more than 70 decrees since taking office in December 2023 to push through his austerity agenda, which has slashed public programs despite considerable protest.

By comparison, Peronist former president Cristina Kirchner signed 78 decrees in her two terms from 2007 to 2015, and right-wing Mauricio Macri signed 71 in his 2015-2019 presidency.

The lower house Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to a bill to regulate presidential decrees, with 140 votes in favor, 80 opposed, and 17 abstentions.

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The bill, which had already been approved by the Senate, stipulates that a decree can be overturned by a single house of parliament.

Previously, a majority of both houses of parliament was required to reject a presidential order.

The amended bill now goes back to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved.

The vote deals a new blow to 54-year-old Milei, who is reeling from scandals within his party, a run on the peso that forced him to ask Washington for a financial rescue last month, and three earlier congressional votes overturning some of his spending vetoes.

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Milei, who won the presidency by campaigning as an outsider, has denounced Congress as a “nest of rats” and its members as a “political caste.”

But he is looking increasingly vulnerable as he faces midterm elections on October 26, in which half of the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of Senate seats will be on the ballot.

Milei has also accused the opposition of deliberately stoking “panic” to weaken him.

On Monday, he tried to revive the rockstar persona that helped him get elected by headlining a concert to mark the release of his latest book touting what he claims as his economic “miracle.”

Last week, Congress overturned the chainsaw-wielding leader’s vetoes of spending increases for public universities and emergency pediatric care, jeopardizing his aggressive zero-deficit goal.

Then on Sunday, one of his top candidates in the midterms bowed out of the race due to his links to suspected drug traffickers.

Last month, Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party was trounced by the center-left in Buenos Aires provincial polls seen as a bellwether of his support.

Milei has also been in talks with the United States on a $20 billion economic support program to buoy the South American nation’s markets and its battered currency.

He has cozied up to Donald Trump, praising the US president in a UN General Assembly address last month, saying Trump is saving the United States and the world from “catastrophe,” citing the Republican leader’s migration and trade policies.