Chamber approves base text of the Spending PEC in 2nd round

This Wednesday (21st) the Chamber concluded the approval of the base text of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of Gastança, which expands the spending ceiling for one year for the fulfillment of promises of the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Silva (PT).

The debate began on Tuesday (20), after an agreement between deputies and Lula’s allies, with the vote in the first round. This Wednesday, the second round was held, and the proposal was approved by 331 to 163.

Highlights of alteration of the text will still be deliberated before part of it, which deals with the redistribution of parliamentary amendments, is submitted to a new vote, in the Senate, also scheduled for this Wednesday. Enactment should take place on Thursday (22).

The conclusion was made possible after the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), reached an agreement with the Republicans to avoid a new dehydration of the PEC.

A highlight (suggestion of a specific change in the text) presented by Novo sought to remove the possibility for the elected government to present, by the end of August 2023, a proposal for a new fiscal anchor that would replace the spending ceiling with a complementary bill.

Parties such as PSDB and Citizenship, which had supported the PEC, were in favor of the highlight. The central argument is that the device weakens the process of choosing fiscal anchors and makes it easier for the future PT government to get rid of the spending ceiling.

To avoid the setback, Lira suspended the Chamber session on Tuesday (20) after voting on the text in the first round and started a negotiation so that the Republicans, who voted against the PEC in the first round, would not support the highlight.

Lula’s assistants then resumed articulation with the party. The president of the Republicans, deputy Marcos Pereira (SP), was contacted by deputy José Guimarães (PT-CE), by senator Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), in addition to the future Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad.

The party complained about the lack of dialogue with representatives of the elected president, who negotiates space in the new government with other acronyms. The plan is to expand articulation with the Republicans, leaving the door open so that, in the future, the party can stop being independent and become Lula’s base.

Anyway, in the vote for the highlight, 40 parliamentarians of the acronym were against the highlight of the new one, which ended up overthrown by 366 to 130.

The approval of the Gastança PEC increases the spending ceiling by R$ 145 billion next year. The text also authorizes BRL 23 billion in investments outside the fiscal rule – the amount refers to the excess revenue that the government had in the previous year.

With the space on the ceiling, the elected government intends to pay the BRL 600 Bolsa Família plus BRL 150 for each family with children up to 6 years old.

The rapporteur for the 2023 Budget, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), must still recompose programs such as Popular Pharmacy, Minha Casa, Minha Vida and readjust the minimum wage above inflation.

In an initial design made by the rapporteur, the increase in the spending ceiling will serve to distribute resources to the budgets of the Ministry of Health (R$ 22.7 billion), Regional Development (R$ 18.8 billion), Infrastructure (R$ 12 .2 billion) and Education (R$ 10.8 billion), among others.

By agreement between party leaders, the Chamber dehydrated the Gastança PEC. Initially, the government was interested in maintaining the increase in the spending ceiling authorized for at least four years.

The Senate reduced the validity of the measure to two years. In the Chamber, the deadline was cut even further, to one year.

The only part that will have to go through a new Senate vote is the agreement between Congress and the elected government to distribute the rapporteur’s amendments.

Under the terms of the agreement, Congress will distribute the BRL 19.5 billion expected for rapporteur amendments in 2023 as follows: half is under the control of parliamentarians, fattening individual amendments, and the other half will return to the Executive, dividing the amount among the ministries.

Despite the distribution, centrão leaders told Folha, with reservation, that the resources that will return to the ministries should be used as currency for political negotiations.

Thus, the top of the Congress will be able to maintain some influence over part of the reallocated value in articulation with the ministries of the elected government.

The expectation is that the Senate will confirm the changes this Wednesday (21), so that the Spending PEC is enacted in time for the vote on the 2023 Budget, scheduled for Thursday (22).