Maneuver to release amendments on the eve of the election favors Bolsonaro’s allies and leader

Candidate for reelection, the government leader in the Chamber, deputy Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), was the most favored by a Planalto maneuver that allowed the release of amendments on the eve of the election.

The resources were unlocked after measures by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) that authorized the use, still this month, of part of the budget budget for political bases of parliamentarians.

Since the beginning of the month, the government has guaranteed the money reserve for about 600 amendments, which total almost R$ 450 million.

Barros was the author of amendments worth around BRL 25 million — BRL 5.5 million for the construction of a hospital in Pitanga (PR) and BRL 19.1 million for the construction of a convention center in Maringá (PR) , city of which he was mayor.

Sought, Barros said that the amendments were indicated at the beginning of the year and that the “execution of these resources occurs as they are released in the Budget”.

The resources, blocked due to lack of space in the Budget, became available after the enactment of two provisional measures that postponed or limited expenditure on science and culture approved by the Legislature.

The maneuver, revealed by the Sheetauthorized the transfer of BRL 5.6 billion in spending to 2023 and paved the way for the release of part of the amendments, of which BRL 3.5 billion in rapporteur amendments, distributed by political criteria and which allow the most influential congressmen to supply their electoral strongholds.

Today, there are four types of amendments: individual amendments —to which every deputy and senator are entitled—, bench amendments —in which parliamentarians from each state define priorities for the region—, commission amendments — defined by members of congressional collegiate bodies— and those of rapporteur.

Government allies are the majority among those benefiting from the amendments released by the Planalto maneuver.

Also on the list, among others, are deputy Genecias Noronha (PL-CE) and former minister Osmar Terra (MDB-RS), who is running for reelection as federal deputy. Barros leads the list by hand.

In the case of the amendment sent to Pitanga, he allied with deputy Sérgio Souza (MDB-PR), who commands the ruralist bench in Congress and is also from Bolsonaro’s base. They managed to release R$ 11 million (R$ 5.5 million each) for the continuity of the hospital’s work, paralyzed since March.

Souza visited the city in May. At the time, he promised to send the R$ 11 million for the project. “All [as emendas] were duly registered well before the election period and will be used by the municipality for primary care [à saúde]”, said the deputy to the Sheet.

In addition to Paraná, Ceará is among the states that had the most resources from amendments by the rapporteur released on the eve of the election. The mayors of Boa Viagem, Regis Carneiro (Solidariedade), and of Novo Oriente, Nenen Coelho (Solidariedade), managed to release R$ 9.5 million each.

The money will be used for works that are yet to be contracted. The state’s requests were made by the mayors themselves to Congress, but the amendments had the support of deputy Genecias Noronha.

The congressman gave up running for elective office this year for responding to a process in the Electoral Court for abuse of power in the 2018 elections. He is trying to sign his son, Matheus Noronha (PL), for the vacancy of federal deputy. The mayor of Boa Viagem has been campaigning for Matheus.

Genecias did not respond to inquiries made by the Sheet on the release of amendments.

This year, congressmen from the government and those close to the top of the Legislature have used a loophole in the rules of Congress to allocate amendments to their electoral bases without revealing the political sponsor of the resource. For this, they are registered by an external user, which can be anyone.

Another government ally who managed to release amendments was Osmar Terra, with R$ 1.9 million for paving a rural area in Santo Cristo (RS). The deputy did not respond to the Sheet.

About a year ago, a delegation from the municipality went to Brasília and, with Terra’s help, presented demands to the government, such as paving and the purchase of machines. The delegation was also at the Planalto Palace.

“The rapporteur’s amendments, even more on the eve of the election, proved to be an abuse of economic power by the Bolsonaro government to irrigate the campaign of its allies”, says federal deputy and former minister of Health Alexandre Padilha (PT- SP), who has been active in the campaign of former President Lula (PT).

In recent speeches, Lula has indicated that he intends to work to change the current model of the rapporteur’s amendments. This year, the device adds up to R$ 16.5 billion. To date, around R$ 11.8 billion have been negotiated with deputies and senators, and R$ 8.7 billion of which have been released.