Lira frustrates PT plans and expects to conclude PEC next week

The mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said this Tuesday (13) that the conclusion of the vote on the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of Gastança should be left for next Tuesday (20). The schedule frustrates the PT’s plans, which were counting on the approval of the text this week.

The PEC, already approved in the Senate, frees up at least R$ 168 billion in expenses to finance the electoral promises of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), such as the Bolsa Família of R$ 600 and the increase in the minimum wage, for a period of two years.

The deputy spoke at the end of the FPA (Agricultural Parliamentary Front) event that elected Pedro Lupion (PP-PR) as the new president of the bench.

Questioned by journalists if the negotiation of positions with the elected government could be an obstacle to voting on the PEC, the president of the Chamber denied it.

“We have to stop with this story of selling ‘take it, give it here’ all the time”, said Lira. “This presidency was never guided two years ago by any position in any government.”

Lula tries to complete the formation of his new government with pressure from allies for the definition of the ministry. Some parties, such as União Brasil and PSD, would be pressuring the president-elect to occupy ministries in exchange for support.

Lira also said that the text will be negotiated and that the rapporteur will be appointed on the morning of this Wednesday (14).

“The final text negotiated with all parties will be taken to plenary,” he said. “Let’s make the effort [para votar nesta semana], will depend on the rapporteur’s conversation starting tomorrow morning. I will now combine the college of leaders with the parties, “he said.

Lira said that there is a forecast to start voting on “Wednesday or Thursday” and to end on Tuesday. “We received the PEC on Monday,” she added. “So we are streamlining all possible conversations and with the autonomy of the parties so that they can —since the procedure is more urgent— have all possible conversations with the PEC rapporteur who will deliver the text to the plenary.”

The president of the Chamber also said that the rapporteur “very likely” will be nominated by União Brasil.

The vote next week frustrates the expectations of the PT, which wanted to conclude the appreciation of the PEC this week, and of the Budget rapporteur, senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), who, earlier, indicated that the ideal period for approval of the PEC by deputies was until Wednesday.

“That would be the best of both worlds. But if that is not possible, we still have next week for us to vote”, stated the senator.

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 PEC expands the spending ceiling by BRL 145 billion in 2023 and 2024 for the payment of the Auxílio Brasil (which will once again be called Bolsa Família) and releases another BRL 23 billion for investments outside the cap in case of extraordinary revenue collection .

The Gastança PEC has worried economists and the financial market because an increase in expenses in the magnitude intended by the PT, without compensation with an increase in revenues or a cut in other expenses, would have the consequence of increasing the account deficit in 2023.

The Budget officially projects a shortfall of BRL 63.5 billion, but the current government has updated this estimate to a lower figure, although still negative at BRL 40.4 billion.

The existence of public deficits indicates that the government is financing expenditures by issuing a larger volume of Brazilian debt. The cost is close to the economy’s basic interest rate, the Selic, currently at 13.75% per year.