Rapporteur removed article that made payment of amendments compulsory

07/13/2022

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Rodrigo Pacheco — Foto: Geraldo Magela/Agência Senado

The plenary of the National Congress concluded the analysis and passed Tuesday the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) for 2023.

The vote took place even after a reaction from the so-called “Centrão,” a cluster of center-to-right parties that supports the Bolsonaro administration, which showed dissatisfaction with the decision of the rapporteur, Senator Marcos Do Val (Podemos of Espírito Santo), to remove an article that made the payment of the rapporteur’s amendments (also called PS-9) compulsory.

Currently, only individual amendments and those from state legislatures are compulsory. In the case of the rapporteur’s amendments, this requirement is foreseen in the Constitution, but was not included in the version of the LDO sent by the federal government.

The president of the National Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco (Social Democratic Party, PSD, of Minas Gerais), denied that he has come to advocate the end of mandatory rapporteur amendments after he was accused of using this mechanism to ensure his election to office.

The accusation was made by Senator Do Val. He told newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo that he received compensation in rapporteur amendments for having helped elect Mr. Pacheco to the post.

“There has been my position against this for quite some time. This precedes any kind of discussion that took place in this episode of Senator Marcos do Val,” Mr. Pacheco said.

The PS-9 issue is not the only innovation in the bill presented by Marcos Do Val. His bill also suggests dividing the power of the budget rapporteur with the head of the Joint Budget Committee of Congress, federal deputy Celso Sabino (Brazil Union of Pará), on the order and priority of the release of the rapporteur’s amendments.

The “secret budget,” as the opposition calls it, has become the main instrument of Congress to allocate resources to its electoral bases and has caused the Bolsonaro administration to expand its governing coalition in the Legislature, but it is attacked by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party, PT), who promises to end the mechanism if elected.

Today, the control of the release of these funds falls only to the budget rapporteur, which for 2023 is Senator Marcelo Castro (Brazilian Democratic Movement, MDB, of Piauí), an ally of Mr. Lula da Silva. With the division of power, Mr. Sabino will also have to be consulted about the distribution of this money. Mr. Do Val included that, in case the congressman is not elected, the power will remain with a congressman of the same party as Mr. Sabino (Brazil Union), and not with the future head of the commission next year.

In his opinion, Mr. Do Val also made room for more spending next year by saying that the projections used by the federal government for inflation are constantly lower than what is officially verified. For this reason, said the senator, the Congress itself can take the initiative to decide which indicator to use when voting on the Annual Budget Law (LOA) in December, whether the index most updated by the market or the percentage indicated by the federal government.

“The projection of the [Brazil’s benchmark inflation index] IPCA variation from January to December 2022 will be used, both by the federal government and the Legislature, to correct the cap of federal government spending applicable to 2023. For this reason, the clean bill provides that the National Congress may use a more updated projection for the index, without this being restricted to using the projection to be informed by the federal government on November 22,” he said.

This decision, explained the rapporteur in his opinion, will also imply a revision of the fiscal target for 2023, adjusted proportionally to the revision of the spending cap rule, which limits the growth of federal government’s primary expenses above inflation.

The rapporteur also prohibited cost cutting in 19 sectors, which will make it difficult for the government to reallocate money. Among the activities that cannot have their funds cut by unilateral act of the federal government are education, science and technology, digital inclusion, sports, defense of children and the elderly, demarcation of indigenous lands, public security, investments in the Armed Forces, rural insurance, animal health, infrastructure, basic sanitation, climate change monitoring and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Egress from the police, Mr. do Val previously authorized that the federal police careers have restructuring and salary increases next year. The measure is a nod to the electoral base of the rapporteur before the protests of these workers against the Bolsonaro administration for not honoring the promise of granting these benefits. Despite this, the increase will still depend on prior authorization in the 2023 LOA, just like all other civil servants.

The opinion also removes the prohibition for cities with up to 50,000 inhabitants to receive federal voluntary funds if they are in default on previously signed agreements, and authorizes federal funds to be used to install solar power in public health units and even in private entities that provide services to SUS, Brazil’s public healthcare system.

Finally, the text innovates by forcing the federal government to transfer by June 30 the amendments of direct transfers, transferred from the federal government to states and municipalities without the need for agreements or breakdown of spending to be executed. Currently, there is no deadline for sending these funds. Additionally, the city government will have to present to the Legislature a plan within 30 days to explain how it will spend the money received from the federal government.

*By Renan Truffi, Vandson Lima — Brasília

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/