The CCJ (Committee on Constitution and Justice) of the Senate postponed this Wednesday (24) the vote on the report of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Precatório, after a request for views presented by at least four parties.
The request for views took place right after reading the text by the rapporteur, Fernando Bezerra (MDB-PE), who is the government leader in the Senate. The president of the CCJ, senator Davi Alcolumbre (DEM-AP), rescheduled the vote for Tuesday (30).
The government wanted to resume voting on Thursday (25). Some parties in the Senate, however, such as the PSD, are pressing for the analysis of the proposal to be resumed only in December. Leaders argue that more time is needed to analyze the new version of the PEC.
Resistance to the report increased throughout the day in the main caucuses and, behind the scenes, it is said that currently the government would not have votes to approve the measure in the plenary. The two main benches, the MDB and the PSD, considered essential for the PEC to be approved, met and began to present reservations with the final report. They asked for changes, under the threat of not yielding the votes the government needs.
If approved by the CCJ, the proposal will go to the Senate floor, where it needs the support of 49 of the 81 senators, in two rounds of voting.
Bezerra presented this Wednesday morning the report with changes in relation to the text approved by the Chamber. The government had to give in and accept changes to the proposal as part of the strategy to reduce resistance in the House.
The new version of the proposal maintains the pillars defended by the Planalto Palace and the Ministry of Economy.
Today, the Precatório PEC focuses the attention of President Jair Bolsonaro in Congress. It authorizes the government to spend more and makes possible government promises in the social area, such as the increase in Brazil Aid, which seek to boost Bolsonaro for the 2022 reelection campaign.
In order to increase expenses for next year by around R$ 106 billion, the PEC has two main pillars.
One measure allows for a dribble in the spending ceiling, retroactively recalculating that limit. The other measure creates a maximum value for the payment of court orders, which are federal debts recognized by the courts.
Despite the large amount to be added to 2022 expenses, the budget space is not enough to cover all of Bolsonaro’s promises, such as financial assistance to truck drivers and salary increases for federal civil servants.
Bezerra’s report was in line with what he sent to leaders of the largest benches in the Senate on Tuesday (23).
The main change is to create a loophole for Auxílio Brasil to become a permanent social program, as advocated by Senate leaders, and free the government from the need to find a measure to offset the increase in spending in this area.
In the assessment of economists and congressional technicians, this represents a dribble in the LRF (Fiscal Responsibility Law), which requires compensation (creating new taxes or cutting expenses) when the government has a new permanent expense.
Initially, the government planned to increase the benefit of Auxílio Brasil from the current R$ 224 to R$ 400 monthly only between December 2021 and December 2022. As the measure would have a temporary nature, it would not be necessary to find a compensatory measure.
The Senate, however, pressed for the R$400 program to be permanent. Therefore, the government had to look for a solution to make the measure viable next month without having to approve a project to increase taxes or cut expenses.
Other changes proposed by the rapporteur are: the guarantee that the funds to be released with the PEC will be used for the social program and mandatory expenses (reducing the margin for expenses with other measures to a level of up to R$ 7 billion); an audit to investigate the evolution of court orders in recent years and a calendar for payment of court orders from Fundef (education fund) to the states throughout the year.
Also included was the idea of a device so that precatory orders paid to teachers, within the scope of Fundef (Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Elementary Education and the Valorization of Teaching), will be made as salary allowances. This prevents the amounts from being considered for the retirement of teachers, which seeks to preserve the public accounts of states and municipalities.
Bezerra’s report removed a barrier that would limit the power of the National Congress in reallocating mandatory expenditures during the preparation of the federal government’s Budget.
The Ministry of Economy proposed that the cut in the forecast of obligatory expenses only occur in case of proof of failure in the previous calculation. In the 2021 Budget, Congress reduced the budget for mandatory expenditures, such as pensions and pensions, to expand the space for parliamentary amendments.
During the session, several senators pressed for the proposal not to be processed quickly. They even suggested that the measure be voted on in the committee and in the plenary only in the week starting December 7th.
“There is a difference between me, personally, and on the part of some other senators I’ve talked to here, and I don’t think we’re going to vote on the precatory PEC next week,” said senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM) .
“We agree with some questions of the PEC of the precatório, but we don’t agree with others. So, it’s no use wanting to rush things because the government wants to. We want to help those who need it. it is the responsibility of the Federal Senate. And we will not hastily vote for absolutely anything”, he added.
Despite the changes made to the PEC, there are still questions in the Senate regarding the proposal.
The leader of the MDB, the largest bench in the Senate, Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM), said that the party is yet to assess the position, as there is criticism, for example, of the postponement of payment of court orders. Debts that are not included in one year’s payment list will only be paid in subsequent years, which would create a queue.
Braga believes that this situation can lead to a large number of lawsuits by beneficiaries who will be passed over. Asked about the possibility of the Precatório PEC being approved this year, he replied that “for the sake of Brazil, I hope so”.
The PSD bench met with Bezerra himself this Wednesday afternoon, when several senators expressed dissatisfaction with the final report and threatened to vote against the proposal. The members of the bench presented two demands: the removal of court orders from the expenditure ceiling and the linking of the payroll exemption to the fiscal space that will be opened with the approval of the PEC.
The party’s senators also question the lack of transparency in relation to the space that will be opened in the budget with the eventual approval of the PEC dos Precatórios.
“This transparency is essential for the bench’s judgment and we are certain of the government’s understanding in this regard. For the time being, the PSD understands that we must seek alternatives to enable permanent Brazil Aid and payroll tax exemption for 17 sectors”, informed leader Nelsinho Trad (PSD-MS).
Upon arriving for the session, senator Fernando Bezerra once again mentioned the possibility of slicing the proposal, so that it can be promulgated as soon as possible. The government of President Jair Bolsonaro is in a hurry because it intends to pay the R$ 400 Brazilian Aid in December.
As the proposal is likely to undergo changes, which would result in its return to the Chamber of Deputies, there is a possibility that Congress will more quickly enact only the common parts, which were approved by the two legislative houses.
“My report is a global report, it is an integral report, seeking to bring contributions from the Federal Senate into the matter that came from the Chamber. And as I said, many provisions are common, they are provisions that came from the Chamber and were preserved in the my report. So the decision of whether to eventually promulgate part of the report or not is not my decision, it is a decision of the president of the Senate,” he said.
Bezerra also said that the government calculates a considerable margin for approval in the CCJ, between 16 and 17 votes.
In relation to the plenary, the government calculates to have between 51 and 53 votes, which would be a tighter margin for approval. A Proposed Amendment to the Constitution must be approved in two rounds by the Senate, with 49 votes.
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