Lira suspends vote on PEC that expands benefits after approval in 1st round

The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), decided to suspend the consideration of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that expands social benefits in an election year shortly after the approval of the basic text in the first round, this Tuesday (12) .

The voting score was 393 votes in favor and 14 against — at least 308 votes were needed. The opposition, despite having criticized the electoral nature of the PEC, voted in favor.

The suspension of the session was justified by technical problems. Voting is expected to resume on Wednesday morning (13). Deputies still need to review highlights (suggestions for change). Afterwards, the PEC undergoes a new vote. If there is no change, it goes to enactment.

Lira suggested at various points in the session that the House’s system was under attack and, after announcing the suspension, said that the Federal Police was heading to the Chamber to investigate the technical problems identified during the vote.

“As a relevant technical fact that there was, strange to the will of the House, strange to the will of the deputies, keeping the panel for tomorrow morning, starting at 9 am, with the same panel. This is not a matter of order, there will be no discussion, I am making a respectful statement,” said Lira.

“The Federal Police are coming to this House to investigate what happened, in the most profound way that happens”, he added.

In a note released shortly afterwards, Lira informed that the technical area of ​​the Chamber found instability in the remote voting system from 7 pm onwards. According to the statement, the situation quickly worsened, “suspending any possibility of remote voting, including the downfall of the Wi-Fi network.”

“The two internet links, provided by different companies, were interrupted simultaneously. This is a serious and unprecedented occurrence”, states the note. “To ensure that all deputies exercise their legitimate right to vote, the session was suspended and an immediate investigation into the causes and responsibilities of the system breakdown was ordered.”

Opposition parties, however, intend to deliver a document to the board asking to cancel the entire session on Tuesday. They argue that the session can only be adjourned for an hour. For parliamentarians, the suspension was due to the emphasis on the state of emergency that would be voted on. They believe they would have votes to overturn the passage and, therefore, the session was suspended.

The proposal authorizes the government to create a voucher for truck drivers and taxi drivers, double the value of Auxílio Gás and increase Auxílio Brasil to R$ 600 by the end of the year, at an estimated cost of R$ 41.25 billion. The state of emergency was included as a way to shield President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) from allegations of violation of the electoral law with the creation of benefits a few months before the election.

The Planalto is in a hurry to start paying benefits, given the proximity of the election. Bolsonaro is in second place in polls, behind Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).​

The first signs of problems in the session were reported by Lira in the vote on a request to withdraw the agenda. According to him, the internet was intermittent. To pressure the deputies to vote, he said that he would give a discount on the salary to deputies who did not vote. In addition, he raised suspicions about the technical problem faced in the plenary.

Lira said that “two of the Casa’s internet servers went down or were cut at the same time.” He stated that he would make a formal complaint to the Federal Police and the Public Ministry.

He ironized the fact that the first round of the PEC that creates the minimum salary for nurses had no setbacks. According to the president of the Chamber, this type of difficulty only happens when voting on controversial issues, as is the case with the PEC that expands the benefits in an election year.

Leader of the PL in the Chamber, deputy Altineu Côrtes (RJ) said that there was a fraud in the vote. “We need to know why both links went down at the same time at the time of the PEC vote,” he said. The opposition reacted and asked him to prove the charge.

The vote had been postponed last week after a request to close the discussion got just 303 votes in favour, 5 less than the minimum required. The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), evaluated that the quorum of deputies present (427) threatened the vote on the main text. Therefore, he postponed the vote to this week.​

The Chamber session was initially scheduled for 1:55 pm, but was delayed because of the vote on the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law) by Congress, which ended at 2:48 pm. After that, it was still necessary to wait for the deputies to register their presence to start the session. The PEC vote began around 7pm, after the first round of the proposal that creates the minimum wage for nurses.

One of the attempts put forward by the opposition was unsuccessful. Left parties were unable to gather the minimum number of signatures to try to suspend the proposal’s processing for up to 20 days. A fifth of the deputies was needed —103. They obtained 92, with the opposition comprising about 120 parliamentarians.

The PEC was speeded up by Lira, an ally of Bolsonaro. Instead of following the regimental rite of having the admissibility analyzed by the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) and only then being referred to a special commission to analyze the merits, the text was appended to that of the biofuels PEC, which had already passed the initial stage and was on special commission.

The PEC on social benefits was added to PEC 15, which adds a guarantee of an advantageous tax situation for non-polluting fuels to the article of the Constitution that deals with the right of all Brazilians to an ecologically balanced environment.

The text does not exactly establish the tax rates that must be levied on biofuels. These percentages must be established by means of a supplementary law.

The PEC that expands social benefits, in turn, has a total cost of BRL 41.25 billion — higher than the BRL 38.75 billion originally agreed.

The PEC provides for the temporary expansion of Auxílio Brasil by R$ 200, taking the minimum to R$ 600 by the end of the year. The cost of the measure is estimated at R$ 26 billion for granting the benefit for five months – from August to December. The text also authorizes the government to eliminate the Auxílio Brasil queue. To double the value of the Gas Aid, the cost is R$ 1.05 billion.

The proposal provides for a financial aid of R$ 2 billion to taxi drivers, granted between July 1 and December 31. The PEC also allocates R$ 5.4 billion to create an aid of R$ 1,000 for self-employed truck drivers, effective between July 1 and December 31.

The text increases by R$ 500 million the supplementation of the Alimenta Brasil program, which finances the purchase of food for donation to low-income families. There is still R$ 2.5 billion in transfers to states and municipalities to subsidize their public transport systems.