The decision of the Casa Rosada to keep the Senate budget frozen ignited a new institutional tension between the Executive and the Upper House, in a context of strong fiscal adjustment and internal political dispute. The measure does not contemplate inflation updates, it fully impacts the daily functioning of the legislative body and, above all, the figure of the vice president. Victoria Villarruelnatural president of the Senate, who was trapped between the Government’s demand for austerity and internal pressures to guarantee governability.
Although she seemed resigned to the government’s decision Javier Milei to freeze the Senate budget, the vice president warned that it could affect the functions of the Upper House if the distribution of items in the 2026 budget approved by the Chamber of Deputies is not corrected through an administrative decision. “We are already in the red,” Villarruel stated in response to a question from accredited journalists.
According to parliamentary sources, the freeze implies that the Senate operates with items designed for another economic scenario, which complicates the payment of services, building maintenance and updating staff salaries. From those around Villarruel they admit that the situation is “critical” and that there are already difficulties in fulfilling basic commitments. “There is no room to continue operating with last year’s numbers when inflation doubled costs,” said an advisor close to the vice president.
The Casa Rosada, meanwhile, maintains that there will be no exceptions to the adjustment plan. From the Ministry of Economy they repeat that Congress must “set an example” and align itself with the zero deficit policy. “There cannot be discretionary increases while the country makes an enormous effort,” said an Executive source, who stressed that any budget update would be “incompatible with the fiscal roadmap” set by President Javier Milei.
For Villarruel, the freeze became an additional political problem. The vice president already maintains a tense relationship with the libertarian hard core, especially with Karina Milei, and the lack of resources exposes it to senators from different blocks who demand immediate solutions. “Victoria is in the middle: the Government turns off the tap and the Senate passes the bill,” summarized a radical legislator, who warned that the unrest affects both the opposition and the pro-dialogue ruling party.
In any case, Villarruel acknowledged that the problem cannot be amended in the 2026 budget, because “in principle there is no possibility” of modifying the project when the Senate discusses it on the floor next Friday. He also pointed out that “it has never happened that there are zero pesos for one of the sections that corresponds to the Senate, especially when the Chamber of Deputies does have an improvement” in the resources assigned to spend during the next year. In that sense, the vice president assured that the solution to the problem “remains in the hands of Bullrich and La Libertad Avanza.”
The impact also reaches the former Minister of Security, although from another angle. The senator guaranteed in previous conversations, promising the senators an increase in the items that the 2026 Budget, finally, did not contemplate. The La Politica Online portal reported that Bullrich’s supposed ace up his sleeve would be to correct the Budget and have it sanctioned with a subsequent decree, something that legislators warned would be challenged as unconstitutional.
In this context, the Government still does not have clarity about the direction, despite the fact that it leaked that it will accept that the budget be approved as it came from the Chamber of Deputies, after having spent the last 48 hours between veto threats and changes negotiations. Patricia Bullrich had already been hit by two successive defeats: she had to postpone the treatment of the labor reform until February and they signed a Budget opinion without modifications.
From the Senate, some voices are beginning to warn about the institutional risk of prolonging the freeze. Different legislators maintained that “it is not about privileges, but about guaranteeing the functioning of a State power,” and added: “If the Executive suffocates the Legislature, the division of powers will suffer.” In the same sense, provincial leaders warned that budget paralysis could delay key debates and sessions.
The shadow of Karina Milei is what conditions this unprecedented situation in the senatorial chamber. For now, the Casa Rosada shows no signs of relaxing its position. The freezing of the Senate budget remains as a symbolic flag of adjustment, but also as a focus of conflict that deepens the internal tensions of the libertarian leadership. Villarruel is weakened in her institutional role and Bullrich’s image begins to deteriorate early, after the Secretary General of the Presidency managed to eject her from the cabinet with the excuse of her candidacy. In the duel between iron ladies, the President’s sister has the upper hand.
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