“There is no money”: Milei of Argentina vetoes a congressionally approved pension increase

Argentine President Javier Milei vetoed on Monday a bill that would have raised pensions and made it easier for people with disabilities to get help, which had been passed by lawmakers in July. He said that these bills would threaten the country’s budget balance.

Milei had already said last month that he would block the bills, but the libertarian president does not have a majority in Congress, so the vetoes can still be overturned.

There are less than three months until Argentina’s midterm elections, which are seen as a vote of confidence in the Milei administration. The government has been able to lower triple-digit annual inflation, but its austerity policies have hurt people.

After the vetoes were made public in an executive order, the Argentine president said in a statement that Congress had passed the bills without properly identifying funding sources, which was not a responsible act.

“This president prefers to tell an uncomfortable truth rather than repeat comfortable lies: there is no money,” it said.