Rapporteur backs off and includes BRL 1.7 billion in readjustments for police officers in the 2022 Budget

The General Rapporteur for the Budget, Deputy Hugo Leal (PSD-RJ), retreated from his decision not to provide for salary readjustments for civil servants and decided to include R$ 1.74 billion to increase police officers in 2022, an election year.

In addition, in agreement with lawmakers, the deputy had initially reduced the fund for financing electoral campaigns from R$ 5.1 billion provided for in the previous opinion to R$ 4.7 billion. However, after pressure from congressmen from the center, it decided to transfer R$ 200 million in commission amendments to the fund, bringing the total to R$ 4.9 billion. The volume of rapporteur amendments, used as political exchange currency, would be maintained at R$ 16.5 billion.

The vote on the opinion was scheduled for this Monday (20) at the CMO (Joint Budget Committee). However, differences over the numbers presented by the general rapporteur caused the meeting to be postponed. The text will be voted on this Tuesday (21) at the CMO and, subsequently, will be taken to the plenary of Congress in separate sessions of the Chamber and Senate. Next, it goes to the sanction of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The complementing vote of Hugo Leal foresees R$ 1.736 billion to meet projects for restructuring and/or increasing the remuneration of positions, functions and careers in the Executive — and, according to congressmen who participated in the negotiation, would be destined for police officers.

The readjustment for police officers was included in the Budget despite the criticisms of minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) — who has been on vacation since this Monday for 19 days. Meetings of parliamentarians with the Ministry of Economy in the final stretch of discussions have been held with the team’s secretaries.

The understanding is that the Ministry of Economy fulfilled its duty by delivering the Budget and that now the choices must be made by the political class, including facing the burden of withdrawing resources from certain areas to allocate in others.

Guedes said that he tried to argue in the government against the idea of ​​readjustment for fear of pressure from other categories, but ended up giving in and signing an official letter to Congress calling for the resources to be reserved in 2022. categories is a disgrace to contemporaries and that widespread increases would be a disgrace to future generations.

The readjustment only for police officers should generate dissatisfaction from other categories. Fábio Faiad, president of Sinal (National Union of Central Bank Employees), says that the measure would bring an unfair asymmetry because the starting salaries of federal police officers would be higher than the values ​​at the end of their careers for BC employees.

“This could provoke not only animosity within the civil service, but also a generalized departure of BC servants when the opening of public service exams for federal police officers is opened,” says Faiad.

Leal’s first report was released at dawn on Monday without providing for salary increases for civil servants, with an estimate of R$ 5.1 billion for the fund to finance electoral campaigns and with R$ 16.5 billion in rapporteur amendments.

The value corresponds to the maximum ceiling established by a draft resolution approved by Congress, which limited the maximum to the sum of individual tax amendments.

The rapporteur had estimated, in his previous report, an investment forecast for the next year, of R$ 44 billion, which is greater than the amount allocated in the opinion of senator Márcio Bittar (MDB-AC) in the 2021 project, of R$ 37, 65 billion (or R$ 41.5 billion, considering the 10.18% correction by the INPC adopted by Hugo Leal in his opinion).

Last week, Congress overturned President Jair Bolsonaro’s veto on the electoral fund of up to R$ 5.7 billion. The articulation for the overthrow had the support of the opposition and the governing base, including the PL, the new party of the head of the Executive.