Argentina’s Congress Limits Milei’s Decree Power in Latest Blow to the Right-Wing Leader 

Argentina’s lower house on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill to limit President Javier Milei’s ability to use emergency presidential decrees, the latest in a series of setbacks for the right-wing leader, whose party has a minority in Congress, Reuters reported. 

According to the bill, a decree can now be overturned by a single house of parliament. Before, a majority of both houses of parliament had to vote to reject a presidential order to overturn it, France 24 added. 

The Chamber of Deputies approved the measures by 140 votes in favor to 80 against, and 17 abstentions. The bill was already approved by the Senate, but it will now return to the upper house, where it is expected to be approved, following modifications. Milei could still veto the legislation. 

Milei’s party argued that the bill would be destabilizing and create legal uncertainty but critics say that the president has excessively used executive decrees, causing institutional damage. In an effort to push forward his austerity agenda, he has issued more than 70 decrees since becoming president in December 2023.  

Milei, who campaigned on being an outsider, described Congress as a “nest of rats” and its members as a “political caste.” 

The move is a fresh blow to the libertarian leader, who is already grappling with corruption scandals involving his sister, a peso crisis that forced him to obtain financial aid from the US last month, and three previous congressional votes that have overturned some of his spending vetoes. 

Meanwhile, Milei appears increasingly vulnerable in the run-up to midterm elections on Oct. 26, where half of the lower house and one-third of the Senate will be up for grabs. 

Last month, his party only secured about 34 percent of the vote in legislative elections in Buenos Aires province, while Milei’s left-wing Peronist opponents won about 47 percent in a vote seen as a referendum on his policies.