Milei is aiming for his first budget and faces an item-by-item negotiation

The nation’s Senate will meet this Friday with the aim of transposing the 2026 budget into law, a key initiative of the government of Javier Milei, which aims to close the parliamentary year with a significant political and legislative victory.

After intensive negotiations with governors and provincial blocs The ruling party would arrive at the venue with the necessary votes to give general approval to the projectalthough the vote in particular is a more complex scenario, as was the case with the debate on the semi-sanction in the House of Representatives.

If the sanction is achieved, it would be the first time since Milei’s inauguration in December 2023 that Congress has approved a budget prepared by his administration after the executive branch governed for two consecutive years with expanded items consistent with the law sanctioned in 2022.

Libertad Avanza has 21 senators of its own and adds the support of a dozen radical lawmakers (with some internal differences), the PRO bloc and representatives of provincial forces such as the Frente de la Concordia de Misiones, La Neuquinidad, Provincias Unidas, as well as senators from Tucumán, Salta and Chubut. Added to this plan was the partial support of a section of dissident Peronism, which was key to ensuring voter turnout.

In this sense, Four of the five members of the federal constitutional bloc assume that they will support the budget as a wholein line with the positioning of some governors of the Justicialista party who have decided to prioritize budget predictability for next year. However, this support will not be complete and leaves open a source of conflict in article-by-article treatment.

The points of contention

The main concern of the ruling party is that Article 30 of the project, which envisages the removal of norms that set minimum funding floors for sensitive areas of the state. This point concentrates the greatest resistance from the opposition and could determine the outcome of the meeting.

The article in question eliminates the obligation to allocate 6% of GDP to the education system, 1% of GDP to finance the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation and the percentages for technical-vocational training. It also includes the National Defense Fund progressive financing system, intended for the re-equipment of the armed forces.

Unlike the general vote – in which the government is hoping for 44 to 48 votes – the margin for this article is extremely narrow. Federal Conviction has already announced that it will not support this pointlike other sectors of Peronism and some provincial blocs. In this scenario, the presence or absence of senators in the chamber at the time of voting is crucial.

The ruling party privately admits that Article 30 will eventually fall could endanger the full sanctioning of the budget, For this reason, however, it cannot be ruled out that last-minute attempts at changes or negotiations will be made during the meeting. Peronism will be debated divided. While senators responding to dialogue-oriented governors show their willingness to facilitate the passage of the budget, the sector allied with former President Cristina Kirchner takes a tougher stance against any cuts in education, science and social policies.

Another article that is causing concern among potential allies of the ruling party is Article 12, which relates to the funding of national universities. The text specifies the total amount of resources for the university system, but at the same time links the transfer of funds to compliance with the information obligations to the Undersecretary of State for Higher Education Policy of the Ministry of Human Capital.

The version to be processed in the Senate is already available controversial Chapter XI This has repealed the Disability Emergency Laws and the University Funding Act, but the ruling party is not ruling out the text now being returned to MPs if last-minute changes are made.

The meeting is expected to be one of the most important at the end of 2025. For the government, it represents an opportunity to consolidate its economic course; For the opposition, this is a scenario that marks limits.

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