{"text":[[{"start":7.25,"text":"Argentina’s President Javier Milei wants to reform his country’s budget system to force US-style government shutdowns in the event of congressional deadlocks, as the libertarian leader seeks to further enshrine his austerity agenda."}],[{"start":20,"text":"Currently, if Argentina’s Congress fails to pass the government’s proposed budget, the previous year’s budget automatically rolls over. But Milei said he planned to present a bill to Congress to upend the system."}],[{"start":32.15,"text":"“We’re working on a system for the ‘shutdown’ of executive power,” Milei told a local radio station. “Once the budget is exhausted, no further spending is possible, and the state shuts down,” he said on Tuesday."}],[{"start":45.4,"text":"In the US, lawmakers face a deadline to approve new spending legislation before existing appropriations expire. If they fail to do so or the president refuses to sign the bill, federal agencies suspend non-essential activities and public employees are either furloughed or forced to work without pay."}],[{"start":63.45,"text":"They are normally deeply unpopular, with the party deemed responsible for the shutdown often suffering at the polls. Last year, the longest shutdown in US history disrupted food aid, paused economic data reporting and hobbled the country’s air traffic controls for 43 days after legislators hit an impasse over healthcare tax credits."}],[{"start":85.1,"text":"Milei, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has slashed Argentina’s government spending 30 per cent since taking office in December 2023 and eliminated the country’s chronic fiscal deficit."}],[{"start":97.75,"text":"The rollover of previous years’ spending plans played a big role in the early real-terms spending cuts, after Congress rejected Milei’s proposed budget and the value of the previous year’s budget was eroded by inflation that peaked at almost 300 per cent in 2024."}],[{"start":115.25,"text":"The austerity has curbed Argentina’s price pressures and cheered markets, though several major industries are still struggling to recover from a sharp decline in activity in the early months of Milei’s presidency."}],[{"start":127.85,"text":"Milei said officials were also preparing a proposed new charter for Argentina’s central bank, which would be banned from printing money to fund government spending."}],[{"start":136.7,"text":"Milei’s government has identified the practice as the main cause of Argentina’s chronic severe inflation after the previous leftwing government printed billions of dollars’ worth of pesos and pushed annual inflation into the triple digits."}],[{"start":152.04999999999998,"text":"Milei told radio station Neura the practice could become a criminal offence. “Because it’s a fraud,” he said. “The penal code says fraud and the falsification of currency are criminal offences.” "}],[{"start":164.7,"text":"While Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party holds a minority of seats in both houses of Congress, he has pushed through large parts of his agenda through deals with centre-right, centrist and independent lawmakers."}],[{"start":177.45,"text":"Milei’s shutdown proposal would probably prove controversial among legislators, said Juan Cruz Díaz, managing director of the Cefeidas consultancy in Buenos Aires. "}],[{"start":189,"text":"“Instead of requiring the government to negotiate congressional support for the budget, legislators would face a binary choice: approve the proposal or trigger a shutdown,” he added."}],[{"start":207.15,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783576161_9871.mp3"}