The scandal over the allowances continues: Martín Menem challenges the deputies and confirms that he is not going to equate salaries with the Senate

Martín Menem, president of the lower house, sent a clear message to opposition deputies – and also to some liberals – by confirming this Friday that will not equate the salaries of legislators with those agreed in the Senatewhere the gross salary was $7.2 million based on a political agreement endorsed in the chamber.

It was during the toast for Journalist’s Day that Martín Menem closed the door on the salary claims of the deputies and, when asked about the possibility of granting the same salary that senators receive, the man from Rioja was blunt and forceful: “No not at all”.

However, the president of the Deputies announced that he has already signed the resolution that grants a salary increase to the deputies and, as this newspaper had reported, it will be granted in three installments.

According to what was specified by Menem, the increase will not be higher than inflation and will be paid in monthly installments. 40% increase; others 15 and a third 9%. To be cumulative, the increase would be in the order of 72% total.

With these percentages, the deputies, who had their salaries frozen since November of last year, will begin to earn an average salary of $2.2 million, according to legislative sources.

The opposition, in principle, rejected the proposal of the president of the House because, according to some sectors, they want to earn the same as the senators, who in April raised their allowances to $7.2 million based on an agreement in the chamber between the different benches.

In that session, the senators also established that the updating of salaries was tied to the parity of legislative employees by setting the per diems in modules that govern the salary scale of state employees.

“The president does not agree with the increase, neither do I. Since I entered politics he has raffled off my salary, but it is my duty to guarantee the functioning of the Chamber and the increase will be in three stages, less than 80%”said the deputy for La Rioja before journalists.

In this sense, Menem assured that all the deputies raised the situation with him regarding the salary delay. And in this context, the president of the House also justified his decision to move forward with a resolution, marking a difference with what happened in the Senate, where the vice president commands. Victoria Villarruel.

“I couldn’t allow the issue to go to the venue because anything could come out. We did something much more reasonable and in fact we are much more out of date with the other Chamber“said the deputy.

And, in case there was any doubt, Menem highlighted: “I do not agree at all with what was approved in the Senate”. The reference has to do with the agreement closed between the different blocks of the Upper House to increase salaries every time there was an improvement in the parity of legislative employees.

Even last month, senators had to sign a note rejecting a new increase that took the allowances to more than $8 million, above the increase in inflation.

However, it must be clarified that the president of Deputies could not get the resolution granting the increase signed by the presidents of the blocks that make up the Lower House, something that had already been rejected by the majority of legislators.

The tension over the allowances occurs precisely in a context of breakdown with the dialogue opposition that has just approved a new retirement mobility formula that calls into question the continuity of the zero deficit and while preparing to receive from the Senate what will be a new version of the Senate, which Milei has been demanding for the signing of the pact with the governors.