The general rapporteur for the Budget, senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), said this Tuesday (13) that if the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of Gastança is not approved, the country will face “budgetary chaos” and runs the risk of stopping in the first month of the government of the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
Castro gave an interview this Tuesday in the Senate, one day after presenting the 2023 Budget report with the incorporation of R$ 145 billion in additional expenses authorized by the PEC approved by the senators. Another BRL 23 billion in investments outside the spending ceiling are also provided for in the PEC. The text, however, is yet to be voted in the Chamber of Deputies.
The senator was questioned about the inclusion in the Budget of expenses that depend on the PEC, even before the validation of the deputies. “I needed to do my job because the deadline was expiring,” he said. “So my job is done and I’m counting on the House to act in the same spirit as the Senate did, approving it.”
Castro said that he built the report based on the scenario of approval of the text by the deputies. “If she is not, that Hail Mary for something like this to happen to Brazil, it would be chaos from the budgetary point of view and the country would stop. I believe that, in the first month of Lula’s government, we would already be having difficulty for the country to continue running.”
The rapporteur also indicated that the ideal deadline for approval of the PEC by the deputies is until Wednesday (14), so that his opinion can be analyzed at the CMO (Mixed Budget Commission) on Thursday (15) in the morning and approved by Congress on Thursday. in the afternoon.
“That would be the best of both worlds. But if that is not possible, we still have next week for us to vote”, he said.
The PEC was approved by senators last Wednesday (7). The expectation of Lula’s allies was that the text would be approved without alterations by the Chamber this week. However, centrão parties began to defend a reduction in the value and also that the term was only one year, and not two, as approved in the Senate.
According to the changes made by Castro, the Bolsa Família program and the Health and Education actions will be the most contemplated in the distribution of extra resources in the 2023 Budget.
The Ministry of Citizenship, which may change its name in the future government, will be recomposed by R$ 75 billion — of which R$ 70 billion will be allocated to maintaining the minimum benefit of R$ 600 from the Bolsa Família and an additional R$ 150 per child up to six years old. The other R$ 5 billion will finance other portfolio actions.
The senator also spoke about readjustment for Executive servants, which will have the same percentage applied to the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “There are 9% that will be given to Justice and to the MP. That same percentage, in the same way that Justice will have this increase, the Executive server will also have it”, he said.
“It is not fair that those who already earn more have a 9% increase and servers that earn less have a smaller increase”, he added. According to him, the value for the readjustment is around R$ 11 billion.
Castro also spoke about the possibility of the Federal Supreme Court declaring the unconstitutionality of the rapporteur’s amendments, used as a bargaining chip for political support in Congress.
“Today, I no longer see any reason for the STF, I’m not teaching them what to do, far from me, I’m not even a lawyer, I’m a psychiatrist, but I don’t see reasons for the supreme to determine the unconstitutionality of the rapporteur’s amendments”, stated.
The senator stated that, in order to reduce resistance to resources, a draft resolution with a change in the distribution of amendments will be presented to the tables of the Chamber and the Senate.
The text should stipulate that 80% of the resources be distributed according to the size of the party benches. In addition, 7.5% would be in charge of the Senate Board of Directors and another 7.5% would be distributed by the Board of Directors of the Chamber, currently commanded, respectively, by Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) and Arthur Lira (PP-AL). . The remaining 5% would be distributed by CMO.
The idea is that this project will be voted on in the session of Congress on Thursday.
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