The Argentine Lower House is set to discuss a pensions raise and a bill to bring back the pensions moratorium in a session scheduled for Wednesday. The moratorium is a system that allowed people to retire when they were missing years of social security contributions. 

Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos, however, said the government will veto any of these bills if they are approved.

“[We] will veto any bill that goes against any of our basic tenets,” Francos said during the United States Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (AmCham Argentina) summit on Tuesday.

President Javier Milei has used his veto power twice to overturn key bills from Congress. He employed it for the first time last September against a pensions increase on the grounds that it “seriously compromised the sustainability of Argentina’s public finances.” Around that time, he also vetoed a bill that increased university funding and vowed to do the same with “all bills that endanger fiscal balance.”

The Lower House upheld both vetoes after the opposition failed to reach the required two thirds majority to reject them.

The struggle for pension raises

Pensions have been tied to inflation for over a year. The minimum pension in May was AR$285,820.74 (US$246 at the official rate). Retirees have also been receiving a bonus sum of AR$70,000 since March 2024, a sum that has not been updated despite the 55.9% interannual inflation.

Deputies from opposition blocs Unión por la Patria, Encuentro Federal and Democracia para Siempre called for a session on Wednesday at noon to discuss a 7.2% extraordinary increase for all pensions and other welfare programs. Lawmakers will also debate a  potential raise on the AR$70,000 bonus sum.

The Lower House will also try to get the pensions moratorium back in place for two years. This would allow thousands of people over 60 to make up whatever number of years of social contributions they need in order to retire. This program ended in March after Milei decided not to renew it.

Also scheduled for discussion during the session are bills to declare an emergency in areas affected by recent storms and subsequent flooding in Buenos Aires province for 180 days.

Pensioners have been carrying out demonstrations outside Congress every Wednesday for over a year. This week’s march will coincide with the session. Police have cracked down on these protests with varying degrees of violence. Last week, human rights organization Comisión Provincial por la Memoria reported 100 injured due to the police repression.