The PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Transition should remove an amount of R$ 175 billion from the spending ceiling in 2023 and last for at least four years, according to what was reported on Friday night (11) by elected senator Wellington Dias (PT-PI), representative of the Lula government’s transition team for the Budget.
The amount is necessary to fully remove the Bolsa Família program from the ceiling, making room for other expenses. According to him, this was the value presented by the team and it is still necessary to hit the hammer with everyone involved in the discussions.
“You have a forecast of R$ 105 billion in the Budget. You need R$ 52 billion to put another R$ 200 above the R$ 400 that were forecast, and you need another R$ 18 billion to guarantee the [benefício de R$ 150] of children, guarantee money for families who have children. It’s R$175 billion off the ceiling,” she said.
With that, said the senator-elect, it would be possible to take advantage of the R$ 105 billion space opened in the 2023 budget piece with the removal of Bolsa Família from the spending ceiling to pay for other social programs – such as Minha Casa, Minha Vida and the Popular Pharmacy — and increase the volume of investments.
Dias stated that the period of four years would be ideal to avoid re-discussing the issue annually. “If there are people in need and if this is not resolved in 2023, why do you have to create tension every year to be able to discuss whether or not to approve a PEC?”, he said.
“For this reason, there are two paths: a concept that makes the Auxílio Brasil or Bolsa Família program exceptional, whatever name it comes to have, and at the same time, it proposes to have a fixation until 2026, that is, for the period of four years.”
According to him, the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, guided the transition team, under the command of the vice president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin, to seek an understanding with the parliamentarians.
Dias stated that understanding is necessary in order, in the short term that the group has, to be able to approve the PEC and the budget changes.
The Transition PEC is considered necessary to guarantee the continuity of the minimum benefit of R$ 600 from Bolsa Família from January onwards. The expense to ensure this value amounts to R$ 157 billion. The PT also promises an extra share of BRL 150 per child up to six years of age in the social program, at a cost of BRL 18 billion.
The PEC should begin to pass through the Senate, where the rite of voting for a constitutional amendment is simpler. Even so, the text will not go straight to the plenary. It will first pass through the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission).
as showed the Sheet, the idea of removing all expenses with Bolsa Família from the spending ceiling had already been gaining strength in recent days. This Thursday (10), the general rapporteur for the 2023 Budget, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), confirmed that the PEC would remove Auxílio Brasil expenses from reaching the spending ceiling. However, he said the change would be permanent.
On Thursday, Lula criticized the spending cap, a fiscal rule that limits the growth of expenses to inflation, and defended a “new paradigm” that allows a focus on the social, as preached in his campaign.
PT’s speeches were poorly received in the financial market, which fears a lack of control of public accounts and indebtedness in the wake of increased expenses. The vice-elect reacted to these criticisms. “If anyone had fiscal responsibility, it was the Lula government,” said Alckmin.
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