The authorities of the National Senate confirmed a new wage increase for congressional workers, a decision that will have a direct impact on senators' diets due to the system that links both salaries. As a result, the gross income of members of the Upper House will rise to over $11.5 million per
month.
The increase is part of a wage agreement reached between the administrative authorities of Congress and the legislative unions, which establishes a cumulative increase of close to 9.4% between December 2025 and May 2026. The update is applied in a phased manner and some tranches include retroactive adjustments corresponding to
previous months. Victoria Villaruel decides to administer against Javier Milei's instructions. According to the agreed schedule, the scheme contemplates 2% corresponding to December 2025, followed by 2.2% corresponding to January, 2% for February, 1.7% for March and anadditional 1.5% starting in April.
The sum of these increases constitutes the expected total salary update for legislative staff
.
Due to the mechanism in place in the Senate since 2024, every change in the salaries of congressional employees automatically affects the assets of senators. This is because parliamentary allowances are calculated on the basis of a system of modules linked to the salary structure of
legislative staff.
Specifically, senators' income consists of 2500 modules corresponding to the base salary, to which 1000 modules are added for representation expenses and 500 additional modules for uprooting. This scheme determines the total amount of the parliamentary diet and explains why increases in congressional workers are transferred directly to legislators
.
Until the end of 2025, a senator's gross diet was around $10.2 million per month. With the progressive implementation of the new wage agreement, that figure will rise to approximately $11.6 million gross, before the corresponding discounts for income tax
and pension contributions. Victoria Villaruel chairs the Senate of the Argentine Nation.
Not all legislators perceive all components of the diet. The additional for uprooting, for example, does not apply in some particular cases. Senators Patricia Bullrich, Agustín Monteverde and Mariano Recalde, who represent the City of Buenos Aires, do not charge that concept, while Alicia Kirchner chose to maintain her retirement as former governor instead of receiving the full
diet of the Senate.
The wage agreement was signed by the administrative and parliamentary authorities of the Congress together with union representatives from the legislative sector, including Norberto Di Próspero, general secretary of the Legislative Staff Association (APL).
