Members of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) articulate behind the scenes to prevent the court from totally prohibiting the payment of the so-called rapporteur’s amendments (used as a bargaining chip in political negotiations in the Chamber and Senate) and buy a direct fight with Congress and the Executive.
These amendments have been suspended since Friday (5), when Minister Rosa Weber issued an injunction blocking the entire use of the instruments. The judgment will take place in the virtual plenary between Tuesday (9) and Wednesday (10).
One wing of the court has been working on trying to build a majority in order to maintain the execution of these amendments, but with the determination that mechanisms be adopted to increase the transparency of these resources.
Party leaders at the grassroots say there is no consensus on the proposal, which in practice would end this type of amendment. Allies of the government in Congress also assess that, for the amendments to have more transparency, the criteria should have already been stipulated in advance — which did not happen.
The idea proposed by the STF would allow the release of funds that have been used in political negotiations, but should reduce the power of government allies in articulating with congressmen, as greater transparency of information will expose the privilege given to those who vote on projects of interest of the Planalto Palace.
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.
It is currently the main bargaining chip in important congressional votes. The money available this year is R$ 16.8 billion.
Planalto Palace and allies, especially the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), have been using these resources to privilege political allies and, with that, expand their support base in the House.
Lira met this Monday (8) with the president of the STF, Luiz Fux, to talk about the decision that suspended these parliamentary amendments. After the meeting, they did not speak out publicly.
In the meeting with Fux, Lira tried to argue that the so-called rapporteur’s amendment, distributed to deputies and senators, is an internal matter of Congress, and any decision by the court to stop the payment of the sum would be an interference in other Powers.
Privately, government allies said the minister’s decision demonstrates what they consider to be the Supreme Court’s judicial activism. They argue that, in case of rejection of the PEC, law firms would earn fees on top of the payment of these amounts, and that the injunction would be a way for the STF to legislate for the benefit of the class.
Today there are four types of amendments: individual (which every deputy and senator has the right), bench (parliamentary from each state define priorities for the region), commission (defined by members of the congressional bodies) and rapporteur (created by influential congressmen from 2020 to benefit their electoral strongholds).
In the case of individual and bench amendments, there is much more public information, such as who was the congressman who requested the release of funds.
The use of this new type of amendment (the rapporteur) to bargain political support in the Chamber and Senate has also been questioned by a controlling body, such as the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União).
The problem raised is that there is no transparent disclosure of the destination of this money.
In another recent setback by the government at the STF, minister Rosa Weber, rapporteur of the process on the vote of the PEC dos Precatórios, set, on the weekend, a 24-hour period for the Chamber to provide information on the approval of the text.
The PEC allows for the expansion of public spending and makes it possible to expand the Auxílio Brasil to R$400 promised by President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) in an election year.
In response sent to the court on Monday (8), the Chamber argues that the Judiciary “cannot determine that the Legislature adopt a certain procedure in voting on the budget law, because such an act would constitute an invasion of established constitutional prerogatives.”
The document also says that the mechanism was not questioned during the discussions of the 2020 and 2021 Budget bills.
The Chamber’s argument also cites a technical note from the House’s Budget Consultancy, whose conclusion was that the minister’s decision impedes the progress of works financed with resources from the rapporteur’s amendments. Therefore, the effect of the preliminary injunction would apply both to amendments that are yet to be released, as well as to those that are already being executed.
This Monday (8), the Senate also sent an opinion to the Supreme Court in which it requests the revocation of the decision of the minister who suspended the payment of the so-called rapporteur’s amendments.
The piece elaborated by the Senate Advocacy affirms that the decision “injures the autonomy” of the Legislative and Executive powers and that, therefore, it appears as an “affront to the institutional structures” of the Powers.
The opinion also defends that such amendments by the rapporteur are important and meet “the system of checks and balances, allowing the National Congress to influence more efficiently the allocation of such resources, according to the formation of the support base for the federal government and in accordance with with the needs of their electoral bases, observing, therefore, the democratic regime and political representation”.
The promise to expand the release of these amendments by the rapporteur until the end of the year was part of the negotiations for the government to approve, in the first round, the basic text of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Precatório.
Last week, the president of the Chamber edited an act to allow remote voting of those who are on a mission authorized by the House, which was contested by the opposition.
On Monday, Lira edited another act to release from the biometric presence record of pregnant women or parliamentarians in health conditions that make face-to-face work impossible, as long as authorized by the president of the Chamber and by means of a document that proves the state of health of the congressman.
There are currently 17 deputies on a mission authorized by the Chamber. Of this total, 12 would vote in favor of the PEC. Another six who presented a medical certificate would also be favorable to the text.
The government has spent the last few days mapping the votes in favor of the PEC and claims that there is enough support for the proposal to be approved. Bolsonaro’s allies are counting on pressure from mayors who will be in Brasília on Tuesday asking for the approval of the proposal, which also provides for the renegotiation of the municipalities’ social security debts with the Union.
Despite the decision of the Supreme Minister to suspend the rapporteur’s amendments, the government maintains the forecast that the vote on the PEC will be concluded in the Chamber this week, starting on Tuesday.
The government is in a hurry to guarantee the beginning of the payment of R$ 400 of Auxílio Brasil in December.
If the agreement with the STF and the PEC vote fail, the Palácio do Planalto intends to issue decrees and provisional measures to fulfill Bolsonaro’s promise.
Understand what parliamentary amendments are and how they work
Each year, the government has to send a bill to Congress by the end of August with a proposal for the Federal Budget for the following year.
Upon receiving the project, attendees have the right to direct part of the budget to works and investments of interest to them. This is done through parliamentary amendments
The parliamentary amendments are divided into:
Individual amendments: presented by each of the 594 delegates. Each of them can present up to 25 amendments in the amount of R$ 16.3 million per congressman (value referring to the 2021 Budget). At least half of that money has to go to Health
Collective amendments: subdivided into amendments by state benches and amendments by permanent committees (of the Chamber, Senate and mixed, of Congress), without defined value ceiling
Amendments by the General Rapporteur for the Budget: The amendments under his command, code RP9, are divided politically between parliamentarians aligned with the command of Congress and the government
CHRONOLOGY
Before 2015
The execution of the amendments was a political decision of the government, which could ignore the destination presented by the parliamentarians
2015
Through constitutional amendment 86, the mandatory execution of individual amendments was established, the so-called tax budget, with some rules:
a) mandatory execution up to the limit of 1.2% of the current net revenue realized in the previous year;
b) half of the value of the amendments mandatorily destined for Health
c) contingency of amendments in the same proportion as the general contingency of the Budget. The collective amendments continued with non-mandatory execution
2019
Congress expands the tax budget by approving constitutional amendment 100, which makes it mandatory, in addition to individual amendments, by state benches (one of the models of collective amendments)
Half of this amount has to be allocated to works
Congress still places an expressive amount for the amendments made by the General Rapporteur for the Budget: R$ 30 billion
Jair Bolsonaro vetoes the measure and Congress only does not overturn the veto through an agreement that kept R$ 20 billion in the hands of the general rapporteur
2021
Total amounts reserved for each type of parliamentary amendment:
Individual amendments (mandatory): R$9.7 billion
Bench amendments (mandatory): R$7.3 billion
Permanent commission amendments: BRL 0
Amendments by the General Rapporteur on the Budget (code RP9): R$ 16.8 billion
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