A new block of R$ 2.6 billion on the rapporteur’s amendments, used as a bargaining chip in political negotiations, left the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), without amendments to please allies four months into the dispute for the house command.
The lock on funds angered Lira, who is now pressing the Ministry of Economy to unlock the money. With the new block, the total of frozen rapporteur amendments reaches R$ 6.8 billion.
The strategy of the Chamber’s summit is to ask the government to comb through the ministries and find expenses that can be postponed.
This would pave the way for the money from the amendments to be released again and used to contemplate parliamentarians close to Lira, who could help him guarantee his reappointment in charge of the House. The election for the presidency of the Chamber is expected to take place in February 2023.
Blocking the amendments is delicate from a political point of view, to the point that the Ministry of Economy has hidden the information on the freezing of funds on the eve of the election.
The budget programming decree was published in an extra edition of the Federal Official Gazette on Friday night (30), before the first round. The act, signed by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), makes official the decision on which areas will be the target of the resource blockade, announced a week earlier.
Usually, the publication of the decree is followed by an official detailing of the measure by the Ministry of Economy. This time, the folder was silent and so far has not disclosed the targets of the cut. But Sheet found that the entire block of BRL 2.6 billion in September fell on the rapporteur’s amendments.
As a result, Lira has practically run out of money to please allies and secure support in the February vote, when the next legislature begins.
The rapporteur’s amendments add up to BRL 16.5 billion in the 2022 Budget, but only BRL 7.7 billion are free from blocking. Of this amount, only R$ 900 million is effectively available — and this amount is already compromised by negotiations made before the election.
For new political agreements based on the amendments, the top of the Chamber needs Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) to step back and unfreeze the money.
From the perspective of the economic area, there is currently no way to make new unlocks, unless technicians attest to the reduction of some other mandatory expense. Another option would be to reverse the blockade, releasing amendments and further tightening the ministries’ funding and investment expenses.
Rapporteur amendments are distributed according to political criteria and allow the most influential congressmen to fund projects and works in their electoral strongholds.
The division of the rapporteur’s amendments is made in agreements between Lira, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), party leaders and the budget rapporteur, deputy Hugo Leal (PSD-RJ).
By giving up part of the federal budget, Bolsonaro gave Congress a billionaire pat on the back and, with that, broadened his political base in both Houses.
Re-elected with the most votes in Alagoas, Lira returned to BrasÃlia this week and spoke with Guedes this Tuesday (4th). He also met with allies to review the patch map.
Since July, the president of the Chamber embarked on the campaign to renew the mandate of federal deputy and also to elect allies in Alagoas.
Few amendments were released in this period. The Ministry of Economy relied on the argument that, during the election period, there are restrictions on financial transfers and blocked almost everything that Congress still had to amend in the second half of the year.
The Planalto Palace and the Ministry of Economy even warned Lira that the funds would be released shortly after the election. But the allies did not want to wait, and the government was forced to maneuver in the Budget to unfreeze amendments on the eve of the election.
This resulted in a confusion of information. The shuttle began on September 6, with the release of R$ 3.5 billion in amendments after the postponement of transfers to the cultural and science and technology sectors, as revealed by the Sheet. Another R$ 2.1 billion was released to ministries.
Although at a slow pace, the ministries began to sign contracts and provide for the release of money in amendments. The government leader in the Chamber, Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), and the president’s allies were the most benefited on the eve of the election.
On September 22, however, the Ministry of Economy announced that it would need to redo part of the blockade (R$2.6 billion) because of the significant growth in Social Security expenses. In an interview with journalists, the ministry’s technicians gave no clues as to who would be the targets of the measure.
Since September 30, Guedes’ portfolio has been questioned by the press, but he does not report that he has resumed freezing parliamentary amendments — a measure that displeases Congress and political parties.
According to Lira’s allies, what bothered the president of the Chamber the most is that, instead of the government fulfilling its promise to release all amendments after the election, Guedes’ team took the opposite path and froze more resources.
When contacted, the Economy Ministry did not respond to the lack of transparency in the blockade carried out in September, and only said that the “detailing of the blocks is still under discussion”. Lira denies that he dealt with the thawing of amendments with Guedes.
Confusion and back-and-forth in parliamentary amendments
March 30th
- After reassessing the Budget, the government blocks R$ 1.7 billion in the rapporteur’s amendments, used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the National Congress.
July 29
- Budget needs new cuts, and government puts another block on the amendments; value locked reaches R$ 7.6 billion.
august 29
- Congressional summit complains about freezing amendments on the eve of the election. Bolsonaro edits two provisional measures cutting spending on science and technology and postponing transfers to the cultural sector until 2023. This gives relief to the Budget and opens room for amendments.
september 6th
- On the night before the holiday, Bolsonaro issues a decree that, in practice, releases R$3.5 billion for the rapporteur’s amendments (with R$4.1 billion blocked).
Week of September 19
- Government identifies a significant increase in expenses in 2022, and is forced to back off from releasing the amendments. Congress is warned of the confusion.
September 30th
- Government puts in place a new spending freeze, but does not report which spending has been stopped. Despite hiding the numbers, the entire block of BRL 2.6 billion was in amendment funds.
October 4th
- Lira holds meetings with the government to ask for the release of funds.
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