Congress closes agreement for dehydrated PEC, with 1 year duration

Parliamentarians reached an agreement with the team of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to approve a PEC on Dehydrated Spending, with a duration of one year and the redistribution of the rapporteur’s amendments, a device that was overturned by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) .

Under the arrangement, the PEC will maintain its value, but will last for one year – the initial proposal would have two years. The text will also include the decision that the R$ 19.5 billion of the Budget that were designated for the rapporteur’s amendments will be divided into two other amendments, individual amendments and those of control by the federal government.

“Half will be transformed into individual, imposing amendments, and the other half into RP2, the federal government’s normal programming, which will naturally be placed in the various ministries, at the convenience of the future government”, stated the rapporteur for next year’s Budget, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI).

“It will be for a year [de duração]that is the majority thought of the Chamber, and the international loans will be removed from the text”, added deputy Claudio Cajado (PP-BA).

“Now we are going to consult the bench to see how many votes [tem para a PEC]”, said José Guimarães (PT-CE)

The duration of one year was also confirmed by the future Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. He was present at the meeting that, this Tuesday (20), defined the arrangement.

The meeting started around 11 am and took place at the official residence of the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), with the presence of parliamentary leaders.

With the changes, the text will be divided and part of it, the changes made regarding the parliamentary amendments, will need to be returned to the Senate for a vote – but according to the parliamentarians, there is already an agreement with the President of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), to the proposal is approved this week.

Right after the meeting, the leaders started to make calls and send messages to the parliamentarians of each party to announce the agreement and map how many votes each party will give to the PEC.

The expectation of deputies interviewed by Folha is that the vote will be quick, with around 320 votes in favour.

The only party that showed resistance to part of the agreement was Novo.

The party leadership is against the possibility that the PEC gives the elected government to replace the spending cap with a new fiscal anchor through a complementary bill.

This is because this type of proposal needs 257 votes to be approved, while the amendment to the Constitution demands a greater agreement, with 308 votes in favor.

According to leaders heard privately, Haddad committed to presenting a new fiscal anchor next year, and the future president of the Chamber will only put it to a vote if there is a broad agreement.

With the agreement sewn by deputies, the Senate must vote on the new version of the PEC later this week.

Despite being a dehydrated text in relation to the one approved by senators in December, the PT assesses that the PEC unties budget knots such as the lack of money for public investments and the resumption of programs such as Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

The agreement that foresees a division in the values ​​for parliamentary amendments depends on changes in the PEC that were also negotiated with the leadership of the Senate.