Senate approves PEC authorizing billions for truck drivers, taxi drivers and aid in election year

The Senate approved this Thursday (30) the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that institutes a state of emergency to allow President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to break the spending ceiling and open public coffers to just over three election months.

The text gives the government the go-ahead to boost social programs until the end of the year without running into restrictions in the electoral law, which exist to prevent the use of the public machine in favor of any candidate. Bolsonaro ranks second in polls, behind former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The measures will have a total cost of BRL 41.25 billion – a value greater than the BRL 38.75 billion agreed on the day before, in yet another move to increase the bill. When the measures to tackle the rise in fuel prices began to be discussed, the extra expense was projected at R$ 29.6 billion.

The PEC provides for the temporary expansion of Auxílio Brasil by R$ 200, bringing the minimum benefit to R$ 600 by the end of the year. The text also authorizes the government to eliminate the Auxílio Brasil queue, create aid for self-employed truck drivers and double the value of Auxílio Gás.

At the last minute, government leaders closed an agreement to include a R$2 billion benefit for taxi drivers and increase by R$500 million resources for the Alimenta Brasil program, which finances the purchase of food for donation to needy families.

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), son of the President of the Republic, acknowledged that the expansion of the bill faced opposition from the Ministry of Economy. “President Bolsonaro had to enter the circuit because of a certain resistance on the part of the economy,” he said during the session.

Technicians from the economic area followed the vote with apprehension at the increase in the size of the check.

The proposal was approved in the first round by 72 votes in favor, including the opposition, and only 1 against, by Senator José Serra (PSDB-SP). In the second round, it was 67 votes to 1. 49 favorable votes were needed in the two rounds of appreciation. The PEC now goes to the Chamber of Deputies.

“Today, I was the only senator to vote against PEC 16, approved together with PEC 1/22, nicknamed PEC Kamikaze. By that name we already know that it is a fiscal bomb. This PEC violates the Fiscal Responsibility Law and breaks the spending ceiling”, said Serra in a post on Twitter.

The PEC received harsh criticism for containing the controversial state of emergency. The government’s justification for instituting this device in an election year is the Ukrainian War — which broke out at the end of February — and its impact on fuel prices.

Parliamentarians fear that the proposal sets a dangerous precedent and highlighted the electoral nature of the measure, in addition to the risk of giving Bolsonaro a blank check. Still, the negative vote would be politically difficult to explain to their rank and file. Therefore, even opposing senators voted in favor arguing the need to serve the most needy population.

Senator Confúcio Moura (MDB-RO) was one of those who announced the vote in favor of the measure, although he criticizes the conditions of the text articulated by the government. “Of course we’re going to vote ‘yes’, but it’s painful. It’s painful for the way it’s being presented. The ends are great, but the form, the timing and the awkwardness are visible,” he said.

The inclusion of the state of emergency to allow the payment of benefits without risks to the Bolsonaro campaign was anticipated by the Sheet. The measure has been seen as a dribble on the fences of the electoral law.

The legislation prohibits the implementation of new benefits in the year of the elections. The only exceptions are programs that are already running or when there is public calamity or a state of emergency.

Senator Fernando Bezerra (MDB-PE), rapporteur for the PEC, argued that the state of emergency would only be valid for the benefits provided for in the proposal, rejecting the criticism that the text would give a blank check. He made a distance defense of the proposal, as he voted remotely — he traveled to his state, Pernambuco.

On Wednesday (29), the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), also sought to remove resistance to the measure.

“I don’t consider a dangerous precedent, because it’s up to a Senate to have responsibility in relation to the public spending ceiling and fiscal responsibility, and we have that responsibility. , which lasted two years or more and required exceptional measures, even outside the ceiling, as was the Emergency Aid”, said Pacheco.

Some senators, however, questioned the fact that the text shields the measures within the scope of the state of emergency against “any fence or restriction provided for in a norm of any nature”. Opponents saw in this excerpt a carte blanche for Bolsonaro to act with an eye on his reelection, using new programs and spending a few months before the election.

Bezerra initially resisted changing the text, but eventually gave in and removed the most controversial provision. The rapporteur also accepted the opposition’s request to include in the text an express prohibition of the use of Auxílio Brasil and Auxílio Gás resources for institutional advertising.

The proposal approved by the senators is different from the initial plans of the Bolsonaro government, which intended to use billionaire resources to hold back the rise in fuel prices.

The original PEC, presented by government leader Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), provided for compensation of up to BRL 29.6 billion for states that chose to zero tax rates on diesel and gas. As accession would be optional, the government began to fear that the effect would be innocuous.

Therefore, the government and Congress decided to take a turn and abandon compensation, using the resources to boost social benefits and create aid for truck drivers.

Bezerra even preferred to leave the text presented by the government leader in the background and inserted the changes in the PEC that had been dubbed by the Ministry of Economy Kamikaze, as it provided for measures that would have an impact of more than R$ 100 billion.

Most of the mechanisms of the Kamikaze PEC, however, have been changed.

“Although the objective of the two PECs is similar, PEC nº 1, of 2022, suggests more adequate instruments to deal with the impacts of high fuel prices by proposing more focused measures, such as aid to truck drivers, expansion of the Auxílio Gás program for Brazilians and transfer to states and municipalities to subsidize their public transport systems”, said Bezerra.

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said, during his live on Thursday, that the approval of the PEC will help truck drivers, despite assessing that the amount is small.

In recent days, the price of diesel has surpassed that of gasoline and ethanol at several stations in the country, something unprecedented according to Sincopetro (a union representing the stations). The increase left the category, an important part of the president’s electoral base, unsatisfied.

“The Senate is currently voting on a Proposal for Amendment to the Constitution. In common agreement the federal government, senators and deputies, the vast majority. The first round was approved, there are two rounds. Auxílio Brasil goes from R$ 400 to R$ 600. There’s a truck driver assistance of R$ 1,000, I know it’s not much, I know that truck drivers spend a lot of fuel, but it’s a help that we’re giving here. And we’re also going to double the value of the gas voucher”, he said.

MEASURES AND RISKS

Measures against the impact of rising fuel prices

• Increase the Auxílio Brasil floor from R$400 to R$600 by the end of the year; 18.15 million families are already in the program today
• Zero the Auxílio Brasil queue; government predicts that it can raise the public contemplated to 19.8 million families
• Increase the Gas Allowance to R$ 120, paid every two months; in June, 5.7 million families received R$ 53, equivalent to 50% of the average price of a 13 kg cylinder
• Create a BRL 1,000 grant for self-employed truck drivers
• Authorize transfer of R$ 2.5 billion to pay for the gratuity of the elderly in urban public transport
• Authorize up to R$3.8 billion in ethanol subsidies
• Create aid for taxi drivers, up to a limit of BRL 2 billion
• Authorize an extra transfer of BRL 500 million to the Alimenta Brasil program, which finances the purchase of food from family farmers for donation to needy people

What are the electoral risks?

The electoral law prohibits the implementation of new benefits in the year of the elections, to avoid the use of the public machine in favor of one of the candidates. The only exceptions are programs that are already running or when there is public calamity or a state of emergency.

What is the government’s solution?

Establish a state of emergency, regulated via PEC, allowing the creation of a new benefit to truck drivers and the expansion of existing benefits, even in an election year.