2026 Budget: Peronists doubt the ruling party's willingness to approve the bill and accuse them of a "sham."

National Representative Julia Strada , of the Unión por la Patria party , questioned the presentation of the 2026 Budget to be announced by President Javier Milei on Radio Splendid, framing it as part of what she defined as " the strategy of simulation ." According to the legislator, the national government has gone two years without approving a formal budget, and everything indicates that the same pattern will be repeated.

"We've been without a budget for two years now. Last year it was a simulation; they announced it but never wanted it approved. Be careful with the simulation strategy, because they say it for the public, but then it doesn't get approved," Strada said, taking into account tonight's national broadcast to present the project.

The Peronist representative explained that, in practice, Congress has been working with extensions all this time, and noted that even in 2023, during the debate, issues unrelated to the original bill arose. "In the middle of the Budget discussion, they introduced the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas, which wasn't even in the text," she warned.

For Strada, these types of maneuvers reflect the ruling party's use of the law as an instrument of political pressure, rather than as the fundamental tool established by the Constitution. The legislator emphasized that the lack of a formally approved budget leaves the country in an anomalous situation, one that erodes institutionality.

The congresswoman also took aim at the functioning of the Budget and Finance Committee, chaired by José Luis Espert , whom she accused of not wanting the legislative body to work seriously. "Last year, they held informational meetings with some officials, but the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, and Federico Sturzenegger, the decision-maker, never showed up," she stated.

In the run-up to the national broadcast in which Milei will present the 2026 Budget, Strada insisted that everything points to a rehashed speech. "I imagine something very similar to last year: zero emissions, I'm going to cut off the hand of the one who emits, but it's all a simulation," she stated. The congresswoman emphasized that this strategy is not accidental, but rather responds to what she described as the President's "serious limitations." "He doesn't travel to the provinces, he doesn't know Argentina's territory, he doesn't know the national productive reality," she stated harshly.

Finally, Strada linked the budget debate to the session scheduled in the Chamber of Deputies this week, where the opposition will seek to insist on rejecting presidential vetoes on education and health. "We legislate with emergencies, in pediatric health, in universities, on pensions, because there is no budget. What the government is doing is not normal. The Constitution doesn't foresee this happening; it foresees that there is a budget," he concluded.