Congress wants to pass 2022 Budget later this month to ensure amendments

Despite the delay in discussions on the 2022 Budget, congressional leaders want to pass the proposal later this month to ensure that parliamentary amendments can be implemented by the beginning of the election year.

Leaving the budget vote for February 2022 means shortening the deadline for the amendments to be released.

Parliamentary amendment is the way that deputies and senators manage to allocate money from the federal budget for works and projects in their political bases.

As 2022 is an election year, the release of amendments must be suspended from July. The use of this money in actions aimed at the bases of deputies and senators expand the political capital of congressmen on the eve of the election.

Therefore, the execution of the amendments arouses the interest of congressmen as early as 2022.

The plan is to prevent an impasse similar to the 2021 Budget, which was sanctioned only in April, from occurring. The delay limited the release of parliamentary amendments in the first four months of the year. No amendments were released before the sanction — not even the tax amendments, which must be released in the year.

Today there are four types of amendments: individual (which every deputy and senator has the right), bench (parliamentary from each state define priorities for the region), commission (defined by members of the congressional bodies) and rapporteur (created by influential congressmen from 2020 to benefit their electoral strongholds).

Although the STF (Supreme Federal Court) has suspended the use of the rapporteur’s amendments, Congress leaders are confident that the mechanism will be released in the final stretch of formulating the 2022 Budget.

Initially, the intention was to set aside up to R$16 billion for these political negotiation amendments. However, with the tightening of public accounts, estimates are now close to R$7 billion.

The Budget Rapporteur, Deputy Hugo Leal (PSD-RJ), included the mechanism in the draft’s preliminary opinion, allowing the changes to be for technical adjustments or “aimed at improving the Union’s budgets”.

This instrument increased the volume of parliamentary amendments and Congress’ control over the Budget.

Party leaders want to approve the 2022 Budget project by December 17, despite the delay in completing the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Precatório, which will allow for a wide adjustment in expenses for next year.

“We are working to speed up the report. We will comply with the calendar and approve the Budget in December,” stated Leal.

The PEC dos Precatório authorizes the government to spend another R$106 billion next year. The proposal had its vote concluded in the Senate on Thursday (2), but the lawmakers changed the text and therefore the proposal will need to be processed again in the Chamber of Deputies.

The Congressional summit now needs to define whether it will “slice the proposal”, divide it to enact only the common parts that have already been approved by the two legislative houses. Government leaders defend this initiative, which would speed up the payment of the R$ 400 Brazilian Aid.

The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said on the same Thursday that the proposal should really be sliced ​​up and that the changes to the text promoted by the Senate would only be considered in 2022.

“We are going to see the common text of the two Houses. This common text must be promulgated by the two tables [diretoras], and what is left of the common text will have to go to the CCJ [Comissão de Constituição e Justiça], it will have to be admissible, it will have to go to the special commission to return to the plenary in two votes”, he said.

However, Lira and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), met hours later and were unable to reach an agreement.

The only decision taken after the meeting was, each one separately, to hold a meeting with the bench leaders of each House to reach an agreement on the common points that could be promulgated.

Senators fear that enacting only the provisions that make room for R$106 billion for spending could give the government carte blanche to spend without any type of control during an election year.

The senators, when altering the text of the Chamber, included provisions to guarantee that these resources will be tied, to be applied only to expenses with the Auxílio Brasil program and social security.

The PEC dos Precatórios is currently the main agenda of interest of President Jair Bolsonaro in Congress. The objective is to authorize the government to spend more and make viable the promise to raise the value of the Brazil Aid in an attempt to boost Bolsonaro’s reelection campaign in 2022.

In order to increase expenses for next year by around R$ 106 billion, the PEC has two 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 – debts that do not appear on this list will be postponed and paid off in later years.