The United States government’s Argentina bailout is starting to become a domestic policy issue issue in the U.S. as Democratic Party lawmakers are increasingly putting the financial move in the spotlight. A group of senators has already introduced a bill trying to halt the initiative and this week, a congressman asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for details regarding the support package.
On Monday, congressman David Scott, a senior member on the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to Bessent demanding details on the use of U.S. Exchange Stabilization Fund to establish a US$20 billion swap line with Argentina’s Central Bank. The lawmaker called the decision “reckless” in a letter co-signed with other 11 members of Congress.
“The U.S. is effectively stepping in to backstop a volatile Argentine peso with little to no economic safeguards—despite an ongoing shutdown and Argentina’s long history of fiscal mismanagement and chronic instability,” Scott said in a statement.
Also on Monday, Argentina’s Central Bank announced it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Treasury for a US$20 billion swap line. The announcement came weeks after Bessent first said that the government was ready to do “whatever it takes to support Argentina,” which gave the Argentine government a boost of much-needed confidence and helped to strengthen the peso ahead of the October 26 national legislative elections.
The plan was formalized last week during a work lunch Trump and Argentina President Javier Milei shared in the White House. Talking to the press, Trump and Bessent said the proposed support package for Argentina is predicated on Javier Milei doing well in the upcoming elections.
Among the details Scott demands be revealed is how the Treasury expects Argentina to “defend the peso against speculative pressure without an explicit anchor,” whether the government required that Argentina adopt structural reforms, and “how much Argentine peso exposure has Treasury accumulated to date through the peso purchase program and swap line purchases.”
He also demanded a “full-term sheet for the peso-purchase program and swap line, including interest rates, maturities, collateral requirements, amortization schedules, forgiveness or penalty clauses, and drawdown rules.”
“No Argentina Bailout Act” Congressman Scott’s inquiry is not the first time the Democrats have shown their opposition to the move. Two weeks ago, Elizabeth Warren and other seven U.S. senators introduced the “No Argentina Bailout Act,” a bill seeking to prohibit the Treasury to “bail out Argentina’s financial markets, and its global investors, while American families are struggling at home and the Trump Administration is shutting down our own government.”
The U.S. government has now been closed for 20 days and counting as Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to pass the 2026 budget before the required deadline. Republicans control the legislative branch, but need Democratic support in the Senate to pass their proposal to continue government funding. Democrats have conditioned their support for the bill on continued funding for healthcare, which Republicans have opposed.
“It is inexplicable that President Trump is propping up a foreign government, while he shuts down our own,” Warren said regarding her reasons for presenting the bill. “Trump promised ‘America First,’ but he’s putting himself and his billionaire buddies first and sticking Americans with the bill.”
Bernie Sanders, a sitting U.S. senator who signed the bill who also ran an presidential candidate in the 2016 Democratic primaries, added that Trump said the country has “to throw 15 million Americans off health care and more than double health insurance premiums for 24 million people because we don’t have enough money.”
“But somehow, we have $20 billion to bail out the right-wing regime of Argentina? We can’t let that happen,” he said.
