Chamber can accelerate PEC that provides billionaire benefits in election year

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The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), is studying annexing the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that authorizes billions for truck drivers, taxi drivers and aid in an election year to a text on biofuels that is being processed in a special committee in the House.

The information was released by the government leader in the Chamber, deputy Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), on a social network. “The benefits PEC approved in the Senate will be voted on in the Chamber in a rite to be decided at the meeting of leaders with Arthur Lira this Monday [27]”, he wrote — in a later version of the text, Barros suppressed the name of the president of the Chamber, but kept the other information.

He indicated that the idea is to attach the text to PEC 15, which deals with biofuels, and to vote without changes on the texts approved in the Senate. According to Barros, the rapporteur of this PEC in the special committee of the Chamber, deputy Danilo Forte (União-CE), is still analyzing the legislative technique.

The proposal, approved by the Senate on Thursday, institutes a state of emergency to allow President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to break the spending ceiling and open public coffers just over three months before the elections.

The PEC 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).

This PEC, then, would be attached to the proposal that seeks to preserve a regime favored by biofuels – which could lose competitiveness with the measures to reduce the cost of gasoline and diesel recently approved.

The text is being processed by a special committee in the Chamber, after being approved by the CCJ (Commission on Constitution and Justice) on June 20. Regimentally, it is possible to add a PEC to another one already in progress, as long as there is thematic relevance.

The PEC brings measures that will have a total cost of R$ 41.25 billion – a value greater than the R$ 38.75 billion agreed on the day before, in yet another movement 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 text 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.

The senators also included a R$2 billion benefit for taxi drivers and an increase of R$500 million in resources for the Alimenta Brasil program, which finances the purchase of food for donation to low-income families.

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.

“Exit Exit”

The opposition criticized any attempt to speed up the process of the PEC. Leader of the PT in the Chamber, deputy Reginaldo Lopes (MG) called the proposal a “PEC from the exit of the ballot box”.

“It is a criminal and electoral PEC. I spoke to Arthur Lira that it becoming anti-regime and anti-democratic is absurd. It must follow the path of the House’s regiment, CCJ and special commission”, he said.

He defended changes in the text, especially in the part that deals with the recognition of the state of emergency “resulting from the extraordinary and unpredictable rise in the prices of oil, fuels and their derivatives and the social impacts resulting from them.”

“It’s a shame. Since when did you create the PPI [preço de paridade de importação], for almost six years, this policy is wrong, it is breaking the Brazilian state. It’s breaking the poorest, it’s breaking the economy. She’s indebting the country,” she said. “It’s a lying article. 90 days before the elections, do you still want to take responsibility for making a mistake in the pricing policy of derivatives in Brazil?”

PSB leader Bira do Pindaré (MA) said he was in favor of social assistance and protection policies. “It is evident that the government’s measure is electoral. They are not committed to this cause. This decision, this measure, is merely thinking about the election”, he criticized. “For consistency, we cannot be against it, because this is our thesis.”

He defended the normal processing of the text in the Chamber. “It is a PEC. We want it to follow the normal rite, for there to be a broad debate, for all political forces to have the right to participate. For us, this haste is not justified. There must be a debate.”

According to the deputy, Lira will meet with the opposition next Tuesday (5th) to discuss the matter.

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