The PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that creates a ceiling for payment of precatório (recognized legal debts) is Plan A to expand the new Bolsa Família, said this Friday (5) the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira.
In an interview with CNN, the deputy denied that the proposal has any forecast of an increase in parliamentary amendments, and also stated that it is “vile” speculation that funds were released to ensure the vote in favor of the text.
The basic text of the PEC was approved in the first round at dawn on Thursday (5) by 312 votes to 144 — just four votes above the minimum necessary to approve a PEC. Deputies still need to analyze proposals to modify the text, which then goes through a second round of voting. After this phase, the proposal goes to the Senate, where it needs the minimum support of 49 senators and also voting in two rounds.
On CNN, Lira was asked if there was plan B in case the PEC failed. After the vote, pressure from the opposition increased to try to reverse the votes of the PDT and the PSB in favor of the text.
“We are in plan A. We didn’t lose the first round, we won the first round. We will win the second round with the help of all the parties that voted. I don’t believe in radical changes because there was no lack of text knowledge , on the contrary,” said Lira.
“Plan A is in force, that’s what is being discussed. And with great caution, a lot of conversation, a lot of prudence and a lot of work, without spreading embers, without hurting the party’s autonomy of discussion, we will maintain and increase it, because we voted this first round with only 456 deputies voting out of 513”, he stated, referring to the nearly 60 absentees.
Lira also denied that the revision of the ceiling foreseen in the PEC could open space to increase the volume of parliamentary amendments.
“In the expenses that we are dealing with, the reporter opened them all. I asked yesterday [quinta] for the secretary of the Treasury, Esteves Colnago, to make an official note explaining penny for penny that this change in the revision of the ceiling from 2021 to 2026 will make room, for what it will make room for,” he pointed out.
“There isn’t a penny of parliamentary amendment in this situation and in this discussion. This information is frivolous, it’s speculation that doesn’t help, it’s a version that doesn’t help, and it’s highly unfair to that House and the National Congress.”
The president of the Chamber stated that the open space would be used with assistance, correction of the income tax table and with all the debt obligations of the federal government. “There is no money left for individual amendments and there is no discussion of amendments in relation to this discussion of court orders.”
Lira was also asked about the opposition’s accusation that amendments were released to secure votes in favor of the text.
“This is the vilest speculation that has been around these days. The vilest speculation,” he said.
“It is not fair, neither with the parliamentarians who maintain coherent votes nor with an agreement, that I can tell you here, public, that we made a point of announcing in plenary, because we fulfilled the agreement we made in that house,” he said.
According to him, the negotiation with the opposition involved the installment payment of education precatories, with payment of 40% in 2022, 30% in 2023 and 30% in 2024. in the precatório and a PEC that puts the basic income in the Constitution, “so that it doesn’t suffer alterations from government to government.”
“Those were the agreements with the opposition. So, therefore, an allegation like this is vile, it’s a lie, it’s leprous,” he said.
To approve the basic text in the first round, the government had to give in on controversial points in the proposal and negotiated the release of parliamentary amendments to deputies who support the proposal.
The Budget grant desk was led by Lira, who is an ally of Bolsonaro.
Parliamentary amendment is the way for deputies and senators to send money from the federal budget for works and projects in their electoral bases. This expands the political capital of congressmen and carries even greater weight with the approach of the 2022 elections.
Before the PEC vote, there was a charge for the payment of amendments that had already been promised, and the government indicated that it could retaliate —by cutting the amendments— deputies who did not align themselves with Bolsonaro’s plan.
From the end of last week until this Wednesday (3), nearly R$ 1 billion were committed in rapporteur amendments (which are used in political negotiations). This value, for example, is equivalent to that registered in the entire month of September. The commitment is the first stage of the process for the money to reach the electoral bases.
The rapporteur’s amendment is a type of amendment that was included in the 2020 Budget by Congress, which now has control of almost twice the budget of previous years. Palácio do Planalto and the president of the Chamber have used these resources to privilege political allies and, with that, expand their support base in the House.
The articulation of allies of the Palácio do Planalto unlocked the vote on the PEC, which also facilitates the adjustment of next year’s Budget to accommodate the high value of amendments that have been registered in the Bolsonaro government.
On Thursday night, deputies Joice Hasselmann (SP), Alessandro Molon (PSB-RJ), Fernanda Melchionna (PSOL-RS), Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP), Marcelo Freixo (PSB-RJ) and Vanderlei Macris ( PSDB-SP) filed a writ of mandamus in the STF (Supreme Federal Court) to invalidate the session of the Chamber that approved the PEC dos Precatórios.
According to them, there was a trampling of the internal regulations of the Chamber for the measure to be voted and approved, as the permission for deputies on mission authorized by the House to vote remotely.
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