Victoria Villarruel distanced herself from the increase for senators and allowed them to "adjust or not" their diets.

Vice President and Senate President Victoria Villarruel signed a decree authorizing national senators to voluntarily reject increases to their salaries in anticipation of the upcoming increase they will receive as a result of the legislative employees' collective bargaining agreements. With the salary increases for congressional employees, senators' salaries would rise to $ 9,500,000 .

The measure was included in Presidential Decree 344/2025, signed by Villarruel in his capacity as head of the Executive Branch during President Javier Milei 's trip. The decree also grants employees a 1.3% salary increase for April and a $100,000 bonus for employees of the Upper House, as agreed upon by the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate with the Legislative Personnel Association (APL) at the last joint meeting.

"The Senators of the Nation are invited to exercise the option of adjusting, or not adjusting, their respective salaries, in whole or in part, by notifying the presidency in a note, in accordance with their respective powers," stated Article 3 of the decree. In this way, the vice president absolved herself of responsibility for the increases, a fact that in 2024 caused strong friction with the president and his inner circle and brought to light for the first time the rift within the La Libertad Avanza government.

In April 2024, the opposition and ruling party blocs promoted a reform to tie legislators' allowances to the income of congressional employees, setting the amount received for allowances, representation expenses, and displacement in modules rather than fixed figures. In this regard, legislators set their allowances at 4,000 modules, consisting of 2,500 basic modules, 1,000 for representation expenses, and an additional 500 for displacement. With the latest salary renewal, each module was now worth $2,376.04.

Unable to suspend the increases because the reform was voted on in the chamber, Villarruel made this option available to legislators who wish to forgo the increase, which would represent an additional $300,000 compared to the previous month. La Nación announced that the first senators to support the measure would be Luis Juez , from the Córdoba-based PRO party; and Carlos Arce and Sonia Rojas Decut , from the Frente Renovador de la Concordia party in Misiones.