Lula says that PEC has no minimum value or space to discuss rapporteur amendments

The president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), said this Friday (2) that the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Transition, which releases investments outside the spending ceiling, does not have a minimum value and does not space to discuss secret budget.

The petista also stated that the text is not “Lula’s PEC”, but “Bolsonaro’s PEC”, because he is recomposing the budget that Jair Bolsonaro (PL) should have made.

“It has no minimum value. If one day you have to negotiate, never compromise on your main proposal before the start of negotiation. If I now set the limit for less, it’s the least that will be worth it. So if I have to talk I speak for more,” he said.

The president-elect’s statement was given at the CCBB (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil), headquarters of the transitional cabinet, and comes after a series of meetings with parliamentarians and the presidents of the two Houses of Congress, this week.

According to the president, the PEC deals with the country’s “basic needs” and that’s all.

“Within the transition PEC, there is no room to discuss amendments. I was a deputy, I have always been in favor of a deputy having an amendment, but it is important that it is not secret. It is important that the amendment is within the government’s programming needs . And that this amendment be released within the interest of the government. It cannot continue the way it is”, he told journalists.

The PEC was filed last Monday (28) and provides, among other measures, that expenses with Bolsa Família be removed from the spending ceiling. In total, it is estimated that around R$ 198 billion a year will remain outside the ceiling.

The value, however, is considered high by parliamentarians, who want to reduce it.

The measure is considered essential by the elected government team for the payment of the BRL 600 Bolsa Família next year.

This week, PT leader in the Chamber, Reginaldo Lopes (MG), indicated that the PEC could be changed to authorize spending outside the ceiling as early as 2022.

The possibility of using these resources this year would represent a nod to the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), since it would unlock the so-called rapporteur amendments, used as a bargaining chip in political negotiations in Congress.

Of the R$15.4 billion blocked in this year’s Budget, half are from the secret budget.

The first versions of the Transition PEC already contained a “loophole” that allowed the extraordinary resources to be used in 2022. However, this prediction was withdrawn in the final version of the proposal, which was filed in the late afternoon of Monday (28 ).

The protocoled proposal does not mention values, but R$ 175 billion for social programs and R$ 23 billion for investments must be outside the spending ceiling. This format would be valid for the four years of the PT government.

Such as Sheet showed, congressional leaders once again bet on the PEC and on dialogue with allies of the president-elect to release the so-called rapporteur amendments.

The strategy is to include in the PEC a device that authorizes expenses above the spending ceiling as early as 2022 to reverse the blockade of BRL 15.4 billion that is currently in effect.

In addition to leaving areas such as health and education with no cash at the end of the year, cost containment stopped R$ 7.8 billion in rapporteur amendments, funds used to irrigate works and projects of interest to deputies and senators. The instrument is used as a bargaining chip in political negotiations between Planalto and Congress.

The maneuver via PEC is seen as legally safer and has gained strength again. Parliamentarians from the centrão even articulated a change in the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law) of 2022 to circumvent the spending ceiling and be able to expand expenses later this year, at the end of the Bolsonaro administration.