Government says it has cleared the Brazil Aid queue with the inclusion of 2.7 million families

The Ministry of Citizenship informed this Tuesday (4) that the waiting list for Brazil Aid has been cleared, after the inclusion of about 2.7 million families in the social program.

With the measure, the number of beneficiaries of the policy exceeds 17 million. Previously, the range was 14.6 million.

Families were already included in the December payroll, which will be paid from January 18, according to the calendar.

Auxílio Brasil was implemented in November 2021, in place of Bolsa Família, a social program that was the hallmark of PT administrations.

In November, the average value of the program was R$ 224. In December, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) issued an MP (provisional measure) to create an extraordinary benefit that guarantees the minimum total payment of R$ 400 per family.

The transfer of R$ 400 was a promise from Bolsonaro, who will seek re-election this year. On Thursday (30), a new decree extended the extraordinary benefit until December 2022.

Although the government claims to have closed the queue, there are no guarantees that this situation will last.

During the Auxílio Brasil vote, the National Congress included a provision that obliged the government to include in the program families that meet the required criteria —poverty, with an income of up to R$ 210 per person, or extreme poverty, with an income of up to R$ 105 per person.

In practice, this article would mean the end of the waiting lines for inclusion in social policy. Bolsonaro, however, vetoed the part of the law.

“This was because the linking of assistance to all eligible, automatically, changes the nature of the expenditure of the federal government’s income transfer program and, consequently, entails an increase in expenses without the proper budget forecast”, justified the government .

The veto still needs to be analyzed by the National Congress, which has the autonomy to overthrow it.

This Tuesday, the Ministry of Citizenship reinforced that new requests for admission to Auxílio Brasil do not trigger automatic inclusion of families in the program.

“The entry and permanence of families occur after enrolling in the Single Registry. It is important to remember that this enrollment does not result in the immediate transfer of resources. According to current legislation, the granting of the benefit is subject to budget availability”, says the folder .