Argentina's Congress on Wednesday night voted overwhelmingly to restrict President Javier Milei's ability to govern by decree – the latest in a string of setbacks at the legislature for the La Libertad Avanza leader.
Milei, whose party is in a minority in both chambers, has issued more than 70 decrees since taking office in December 2023 to push through his austerity agenda.
The lower house Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to a bill regulating presidential decrees, or DNUs, by 140 votes in favor to 80 against and 17 abstentions.
The bill, which had already been approved by the Senate, stipulates that a decree may be overturned by a vote of a single chamber.
Previously, a majority of both houses of Congress was required to reject a presidential order.
However, deputies rejected an article requiring both chambers to endorse decrees in 90 days.
The bill now goes back to the Senate, which will decide whether to insist on the 90-day deadline or accept the revision.
Milei is expected to veto the bill.
"The old guard is trying to slow down real change," complained ruling party lawmaker Juliana Santillán during debate.
Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has signed more than 70 emergency decrees.
His staunch opponent, Peronist leader Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, signed 78 during her two presidencies (2007-2015) and former right-wing president Mauricio Macri signed 71 in his four years (2015-2019).
"If we don't set a limit, this will continue to be … a permanent state of emergency," said Coalición Cívica lawmaker Maximiliano Ferraro, justifying his vote in favour during debate.
Proportionately, Milei is outpacing all his predecessors since the return of democracy. He issued 50 DNUs in his first year of office, according to a report by the Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), ahead of ex-president Alberto Fernández, who issued 44 during a period that included the coronavirus pandemic.
New blow
The vote deals a new blow to 54-year-old head of state, who is reeling from corruption scandals, 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.
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."
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."
But he is looking increasingly vulnerable ahead of crunch midterm elections on October 26, in which half of the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of the Senate will be elected.
Milei needs to show the markets that he will be able to continue to govern.
Though decrees are a tool that the Executive Branch has the right to use, as stated in Article 99, section 3 of the National Constitution, "the exception has become the rule," warned the ACIJ.
"The use and abuse of this prerogative has been the focus of profound objections in academia, politics and civil society, and the issue tends to come in and out of the public agenda as different governments use it to regulate issues of high political significance," the NGO said.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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