Milei’s New Defeat: Senate Rejects Veto of Provincial Funding Law
Desde la asunción de Milei, el fondo de los ATN fue notoriamente subejecutado: solo se distribuyó el 7 por ciento en 2024 y ocho provincias no recibieron transferencias.
National Treasury Contributions (ATN) represent 1 percent of the shared revenue collected through federal taxes. Photo: Argentine Senate
September 18, 2025 Hour: 8:28 pm
On Thursday, September 18, the Argentine Senate overwhelmingly rejected the Javier Milei administration’s veto of the National Treasury Contributions (ATN) distribution law, promoted by provincial governors.
The Senate voted 59 to 9, with 3 abstentions, rejecting the veto of the law that establishes changes to the mechanism for transferring funds from the national government to the provinces. The veto must now be debated in the Chamber of Deputies.
RELATED:
Financial and Monetary Instability Hits Milei’s Government
In a context where the provinces are suffocating due to the lack of distribution of national funds, the majority of senators agreed in their speeches that the ATN—a contingency resource—is a “highly politicized instrument” and misused by most Argentine presidents.
In this regard, legislator from La Pampa, Daniel Bensusán, stated that “with this new veto, the president is once again accusing the provinces of being irresponsible, with a blatant lie, because Milei and his henchmen once again want to make people believe that the provinces will use the ATN funds for current expenses.”
Meanwhile, Florencia López, senator for La Rioja, pointed out that “during this administration, they kept more than one and a half trillion pesos. Of these provincial funds, they only distributed 7 percent. Secondly, they distributed these funds in a discretionary and illegal manner.”
At the end of August, the Chamber of Deputies approved the bill requiring the national government to automatically transfer ATN funds to the provinces on a daily basis.
The then newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Lisandro Catalán, had anticipated that the Executive Branch would reject the measure, while confirmation came last Thursday with the signature of the presidential veto.
The ATN represents 1 percent of the shared tax revenue collected through federal taxes. Although their creation is automatic, the national government decides how and when to allocate them, with the aim of assisting provinces in emergencies or with financial imbalances.
Official data show that 42.34 percent of federal tax revenue remains in the hands of the national government, and 56.66 percent is automatically distributed among the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires according to the coefficients established in the 1988 Co-participation Law. However, the remaining 1 percent, which makes up the ATN fund, has no pre-established distribution criteria.
Since Milei took office, the fund has been notoriously under-spent: only 7 percent of the ATN was distributed in 2024. This data was supported by a report by Politikón Chaco, which indicates that eight districts—including Buenos Aires City and Córdoba—did not receive transfers.
