Javier Milei's triumph in Argentina: The Senate approves the libertarian president's deregulatory law

Javier Milei is getting closer to obtaining his first law. After a marathon session in Congress, where riots and violence in the streets were protagonists, the Senate approved the Bases Law, a key legislation that the libertarian has been promoting since February. From the Casa Rosada, he highlighted the "patriotic work" of the senators.

Within hours of traveling to the G7, the Argentine president had a tight schedule on Wednesday. He participated in an event in Buenos Aires held by the Freedom and Progress Foundation and the CATO Institute and then ended the day seeing how the Senate approved his first bill, although the decision of the Chamber of Deputies is stil uncertain.

After more than 12 hours of session, it was Vice President Victoria Villarruel who had to break the tie, given that the final vote in the Upper House ended 36 to 36. Remembering that her vote was in favor of "the Argentina of work," she voted in favor of advancing the Bases Law, whose current version is a very reduced version compared to the first text the Government sent to Congress. In fact, since it left the executive's hand it lost more than 400 articles.

This is because Milei has very few legislators on his side in Congress, which forces him to negotiate excessively with the opposition. He only has 40 deputies out of 257 and 7 senators out of 72.

The Government celebrated the Senate vote through a statement posted on social networks, "With terrorist groups attacking Congress, having to deploy the Security Forces in defense of democracy, with the political caste resisting and operating until the last moment, and having to resort to the tiebreaker of the Vice President of the Nation, Victoria Villarruel, tonight It is a triumph of the Argentine people and the first step towards the recovery of our greatness, having approved the most ambitious legislative reform of the last forty years,” the message reads.

Milei's first law

The central objective of the Bases Law is to deregulate the Argentine State, although after the modifications made by the opposition, that objective was moderated. For now, it creates an investment regime to encourage large companies to invest in Argentina, allows the privatization of some public companies, makes the labor market partly more flexible, gives the president the ability to shrink public structures,

Finally, it also reintroduces the income tax, although with the promise of lower taxes in the near future.

Now what happens with the Bases Law?

The Chamber of Deputies initially approved this law, which was sent to the Senate, where it was also approved. However, the Upper House made some modifications, so the new text must return to the hands of the deputies, who must choose whether to approve this new version or reject it, further delaying its promulgation.