Bolsonaro must block BRL 1.7 billion in rapporteur amendments in an election year

After shielding the funds of parliamentarians in the sanction of the 2022 Budget, the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government should promote a block of R$ 1.7 billion in the resources of allies indicated through the rapporteur’s amendments.

Scheduled for this Thursday (31), the measure already faces resistance from parliamentarians, who count on these resources to irrigate their bases in an election year — when many will seek a new mandate.

The blockade is necessary to avoid breaching the spending ceiling, a fiscal anchor that limits expenditure growth to inflation. With the increase in personnel expenses and subsidies of the Safra Plan, it is necessary to insure other expenses to avoid a ceiling burst.

The bimonthly review of the Budget was released last week by the Ministry of Economy. The amount of the block was anticipated by the sheet.

The deadline for the government to edit the expenditure programming decree and announce the scissor targets ends this Thursday.

The decision to target the rapporteur’s amendments seeks to preserve the functioning of the ministries at a time of growing dissatisfaction on the part of civil servants in the face of the restriction of resources to maintain their activities.

In addition, the execution of this type of amendment in the first three months of the year is considered very low, which motivated the decision of ministers Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil) and Paulo Guedes (Economy) within the scope of the JEO (Budget Execution Board).

Of the BRL 16.5 billion available in rapporteur amendments, only BRL 332,700 were committed (first phase of expenditure, when the body commits to a certain work, purchase or service contract), until Wednesday (30 ). The value is equivalent to 0.002% of the total, according to the Federal Budget Panel.

According to government sources heard by the sheetthe idea is to promote a linear cut in all rapporteur amendments, except the R$ 8.25 billion reserved for health.

As a result, the ministries of Agriculture, Education, Defence, Citizenship, Women and Regional Development should face a blockage of approximately 21% of their rapporteur’s amendments appropriations.

The measure is temporary and can be reversed in the future, in new budget assessments, if there is space available in the spending ceiling.

Even before the blockade was implemented in the decree, congressmen mobilized to try to intercept the government’s movement and avoid restrictions on the rapporteur’s amendments. To this end, they modified a bill sent by the government to make changes to the 2022 LDO (Budget Guidelines Law).

The economic team had suggested including in the LDO an express authorization to block the resources of the rapporteur’s and commission’s amendments, in addition to the other discretionary expenses of the Executive. The objective was to give greater legal certainty to the operation.

In the Mixed Budget Committee (CMO), the text was modified by parliamentarians to allow blocking only in the Executive’s discretion, without reaching the rapporteur’s amendments.

If this version prevails, congressmen’s funds would be shielded regardless of Bolsonaro’s political will.

As the text has not yet passed the scrutiny of the plenary of the National Congress, the current rule is valid, which does not specify which non-mandatory expenses are subject to the block – which allows the temporary suspension of part of the rapporteur’s amendments.

Government technicians told the sheet that, based on current regulations, it is possible to carry out the blocking decided in the JEO.

In any case, government allies are trying to change the proposal that changes the LDO in a new vote at the CMO this Thursday (31). The objective is to ensure that any future blockages can also affect congressmen’s funds.

The rapporteur’s amendments are an instrument created by Congress to direct resources to the electoral strongholds of parliamentarians allied to Palácio do Planalto.

The estimated amount is added to the R$ 16.8 billion already reserved by the Constitution for the so-called individual and bench amendments, which have a more equitable distribution criterion between allies and members of the opposition.

At the beginning of the year, Bolsonaro vetoed R$3.2 billion in funding expenses and investments by ministries, reaching funds from the INSS (National Social Security Institute), to fight forest fires, among other expenses aimed at the functioning of ministries.

The initial scissor, however, fully saved the R$ 16.5 billion reserved for the rapporteur’s amendments, which became one of the main instruments of political negotiation with Congress during the Bolsonaro administration.