Javier Milei has done great things for Argentina — and honestly, the entire region — and will continue to do so, but I have to admit that his latest proposal left me weak in the knees. He's calling it the grillete fiscal or the "fiscal shackle," and it's part of a larger reform of the Central Bank's charter that he's sending to the country's Congress, possibly for a mid-to-late-August vote.
I said we would achieve a fiscal balance in our first year in office, and we achieved it in the first month. Today, we can say that we lifted fourteen million Argentines out of poverty.
— Milei in English - Official Account (@jmilei_english) August 1, 2026
LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DAMN IT...!!! pic.twitter.com/7CYUTZcezE
Essentially, if the Argentine national government runs a fiscal deficit for several months in a row, the Congress receives a warning that it has a matter of weeks to fix it. If it doesn't hit the deadline, the "shackle" activates automatically, and the political class will be the ones impacted. Here's what happens:
1. Non-essential government functions are suspended (hello, government shutdown).
2. All new spending is frozen and will not be authorized until the problem is resolved.
3. No new contracts can be awarded.
4. No new public-sector employees can be hired.
5. Discretionary transfers to the provinces are halted.
And last but not least, the best part:
6. The salaries of the top politicians stop completely. The vice president, ministers, secretaries, undersecretaries, national senators, national deputies, and even El presidente himself will not receive a dime of taxpayer money until they solve the problem.
Of course, essential services will remain protected.
"For the first time in our history, if politics doesn’t do its homework, politics will pay the cost — not the people," Milei said during a national broadcast last week, during which he introduced the proposal.
My question is why the heck isn't every national government in the world doing this?
More specifically, my question is why doesn't the United States do this? (I know the answer.)
We do have our fair share of government shutdowns when Congress can't get its act together, but the everyday people who work for the federal government are the ones who suffer and are often furloughed without pay, while those same members of Congress continue to receive their salaries.
Now, I will point out that in May of this year, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) sponsored a resolution that would make it so that our senators are not paid in the case of a government shutdown. It had bipartisan support and was unanimously approved. It states that these senators' salaries are withheld and released once a shutdown ends. That will take effect the day after the November 2026 elections and only applies to the Senate, not the House.
While that's progress, it looks weak compared to what Milei has proposed. Now, his biggest hurdle is getting these legislators whom it impacts to actually vote for it. Milei's La Libertad Avanza party has the largest bloc in the Chamber of Deputies after the 2025 midterms, but it doesn't have an outright majority. It's ambitious, but it's not impossible, and if it does pass, I hope the U.S. will take note, though I'm not holding my breath.
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