Buenos Aires Herald 
Lower House head Martín Menem said on Thursday that La Libertad Avanza (LLA) would present a bill requesting that a salary raise of almost 30% granted to deputies and senators be overturned, a mere 24 hours after news of the wage bump started making the rounds. The decision comes after heavy backlash from the public and strong criticism by President Javier Milei, who voiced his opposition to the move.
Menem announced that LLA would present the bill following Milei’s “orders,” while claiming that lawmakers’ raise was something that happened “automatically” due to past Congressional resolutions. “The country’s deputies and senators should not be exempt from having to make the same sacrifices as other Argentines in order to overcome this crisis,” he said in a post on X.
The salary raise was approved by Menem and Vice President Victoria Villarruel in late February. The pair signed a document stating that lawmakers would receive a retroactive 16% raise for January plus an additional 12% for February. The raise increased the net salary for a national deputy to a little over AR$2,000,000 (US$2,008 at the MEP exchange rate), without taking into account the bonus they are paid for uprooting their provinces to work in Buenos Aires City.
President Milei railed against the raise in an interview with LN+ on Thursday night, saying that lawmakers couldn’t say they were unable to make ends meet when a lot of people were faring far worse with less money. Milei, who has repeatedly stated that there is “no money” as a way of justifying a brutal austerity plan, has called Congress “a rat’s nest” and has shamed politicians for being part of what he calls a “caste” that is out of touch with the economic problems of the population.
“I don’t agree with the salary raise. I understand that they might have needs, but 60% of Argentines are poor and 10% are destitute,” he said, adding that he had instructed Menem and Villarruel to approve raises for Congress workers but that deputies and senators be exempted from the wage bump.
The wage increase sparked different reactions from Congress members. While LLA deputy from San Luis Carlos D’Alessandro voiced his disapproval and said that lawmakers should give back the raise, Miguel Ángel Pichetto (Hacemos Coalición Federal, HCF) justified the raise in an interview on TN news channel, saying that salaries were heavily outdated.
Pichetto was involved in a tense exchange with journalist Joni Viale, who asked him if he thought the raise was the right thing to do, considering the difficulties the general population was experiencing due to the rise in poverty and the soaring inflation.
“I refuse to talk about that. Deputy Espert has already told you how much we make. It’s reasonable in terms of our public institutional responsibility,” he said.
