Sen. Mike Lee has railed against spending on foreign aid. With a $20B bailout for Argentina on deck, he's not saying a word.

Sen. Mike Lee once called Argentina’s Javier Milei the first politician he’d “idolized.” Now, as the Trump administration reportedly prepares a $20 billion bailout to prop up Milei’s government ahead of U.S. midterms, the Utah Republican—long a foe of foreign aid—has gone quiet.

Will Lee’s anti-foreign aid absolutism survive when it’s a foreign leader he champions?

Since he became president of Argentina in 2023, Lee has lavished praise on Javier Milei and his libertarian economic proposals to shrink the state and deregulate the economy. He's urged the United States to follow suit. Now, with Washington weighing tens of billions of dollars to rescue Milei, Lee doesn't have much to say.

Milei was propelled to victory due to widespread voter dissatisfaction with the country’s economic crisis and persistent poverty. Inflation skyrocketed to more than 140% in 2023. He promised to enact a sweeping overhaul of the economy plus enormous cuts to government spending. Supporters dubbed his policies “chainsaw economics” due to his penchant for brandishing a chainsaw during the campaign.

Lee was immediately smitten, applauding Milei’s fiscal austerity and deregulation push.

In January 2024, Lee posted on social media that Milei was the first politician he’s idolized, and that the U.S. should follow Argentina’s lead.

Later in 2024, Lee reposted a video of Milei at the inauguration of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele with the caption, “Javier Milei = badass.” Lee was among several high-ranking Republicans who also attended the event.

He kept posting about Milei, at one point saying America needed a “Milei moment.” He's also joked that Sen. Rand Paul should run for president in 2028 with Milei as his running mate.

At first Milei’s efforts worked. Inflation dropped to below 45% by mid-2025 and the government achieved a fiscal surplus for the first time in over a decade. However, that progress stalled. With Argentina on the verge of falling into a recession, the Trump administration is preparing to extend a $20 billion lifeline to Milei’s government.

Lee has been strangely silent about Milei and the bailout package, especially given his longtime opposition to U.S. spending on foreign aid.

In 2024, he filibustered a $95 billion package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. When it passed, he called the vote “shameful,” accusing colleagues of “spending money that doesn’t belong to them.”

Now, as the Trump administration moves to prop up Milei ahead of Argentina’s midterm elections next month, Lee has remained mum.

Lee’s office did not respond to a request for comment about whether he supported the bailout plan.

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