PT puts Wellington Dias at the head of Bolsa Família and will seek to expand the program in Lula 3

The president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), chose senator-elect Wellington Dias (PT-PI) to head the Ministry of Social Development, responsible for Bolsa Família.

Newly allied with the PT, Senator Simone Tebet (MDB-MS) claimed the portfolio, but the PT was adamant. Bolsa Família is a brand that the party wants to keep for itself – and reinforce it.

Dias has the task of remodeling the program (today called Auxílio Brasil) and also following up with measures being studied by the PT that should expand income transfers in the country.

At first, the party wants to revise the Cadastro Único, create an extra benefit of R$ 150 per child up to six years old and establish criteria that grant more income to larger families – in Auxílio Brasil, a family of one person receives almost the same value than one with four people.

But, for the medium term, the PT is considering implementing other measures, such as the automatic readjustment of the benefit and also of income brackets (criterion for accessing the program) according to inflation.

Lula has been advised to suspend the Auxílio Brasil payroll loan – a measure criticized by assistants of the president-elect and future ministers. But there is still no decision on that.

Former governor of Piauí, Dias was one of Lula’s campaign coordinators. In October, Dias was elected senator and was soon charged by Lula with negotiating the approval of the Gastança PEC, which made room in the Budget for promises from the new government, such as maintaining the R$ 600 in Bolsa Família in 2023 and the extra benefit for children up to six years.

The new minister is 60 years old, was born in Oeiras (PI), graduated in Literature from the Federal University of Piauí and has a specialization in public policies from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

He began his political career as a councilor in Teresina in 1993. He was elected governor of Piauí four times, each time in the first round, serving his terms between 2003 and 2010, then between 2015 and 2022. He was also a senator between 2011 and 2014, a position for who was elected again this year.

Guaribas, the birthplace of Bolsa Família, is located in Piauí and was mentioned by Lula this Thursday (22) when he announced the name of Dias for the Ministry of Social Development.

Dias has a view that the income transfer program needs to return to prioritizing the stimulation of children’s educational development. “The challenge is to guarantee people not only food and all basic needs, but having an integrated look with other areas”, he said after being appointed minister.

PT members, as well as the new minister, also want to avoid forming a queue for Bolsa Família.

When he was president of the Nordeste Consortium and governor of Piauí, Dias demanded that the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) erase the waiting list, especially in the midst of the pandemic.

After allowing the queue to reach a level close to 1.7 million families, the Bolsonaro government began to put more money into the social program.

As a result, Auxílio Brasil achieved record coverage this month, with 21.6 million families benefiting – with no waiting list in December.

This, therefore, will be the audience for Bolsa Família when Lula takes office at the Planalto Palace on January 1st.

In a preliminary X-ray, the elected government pointed out the loss of conditions of control and effectiveness of Bolsa Família. One of the problems encountered was the explosion of registrations of single-person families, composed of a single member, after Bolsonaro instituted a minimum amount to be paid per family. Previously, Bolsa Família paid amounts per person.

“The president [Lula] want efficiency. The first look is exactly the review of this register in both directions. Is anyone illegal? So we have to withdraw. Is there anyone out there? [do cadastro]🇧🇷 The order is not to let him be left behind, so we will work with this care”, said the new minister.

There was also a queue at the PT administrations of Bolsa Família. The list was only reset during the government of former President Michel Temer (MDB).

However, after criticism of the queue in the Bolsonaro government, the PT has studied a rule to prevent this from happening. Thus, every family that fits the poverty and extreme poverty criteria would be entitled to the benefit. This could further expand the program’s coverage throughout the Lula administration.

The idea of ​​the party is, in 2023, to resume the bases and even the name of Bolsa Família, a social brand of the PT administration.

In Bolsa Família, the amount transferred depended on the number of children and income bracket of each person. At Auxílio Brasil, that changed.

For example, in November, the average benefit transferred in Bolsonaro’s program was close to R$608, with the minimum amount being R$600.

The criticism is that, among the families that are in the program, some need more money than others.

After 2023, the party intends to advance on some points in the social program, for example, by providing for an automatic annual readjustment of the amount of income to be transferred. Today, this increase due to inflation depends on the decision of the Executive.