Chamber approves Budget 2022 with readjustment for police officers and R$4.9 billion for campaigns

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday night (21), by 358 votes to 97, the budget bill for 2022, which provides guidelines for the Union’s expenditure and revenue projections for next year.

Congressman Hugo Leal’s final report (PSD-RJ) was appreciated this afternoon with changes and updates, and approved earlier by the Joint Budget Committee (CMO) of the Congress. The matter had until this Wednesday (22), the day before the beginning of the parliamentary recess, to be voted on.

The bill provides for a minimum wage of R$1,210 for 2022 and an amount of R$4.934 billion for the electoral fund. The approved report also added a reserve of R$1.7 billion for police readjustments, a demand by President Jair Bolsonaro, and R$16.5 billion for rapporteur amendments.

The proposal is now going to be voted on by the senators, which is also expected to be concluded this Tuesday. Finally, it must be sanctioned by the President of the Republic, and may also receive vetoes.

Revised minimum wage and fund under debate

The new value proposed for the minimum wage represents an increase of 10.04% compared to the current value of R$ 1,100, considering the projection for this year’s inflation, which is not yet officially closed and which gained rapid momentum over the years. last years. In the original text of the Executive Branch, the minimum wage would be R$1,169.

The electoral fund, which was criticized by several lawmakers during the debate for its high value, was estimated at R$4.934 billion in the current version, confirmed the rapporteur during his presentation on Tuesday.

Estimated at BRL 2.128 billion in the original budget proposal, the electoral fund was negotiated by lawmakers and was even stretched to BRL 5.7 billion, until it was adjusted to the BRL 4.9 billion presented on Tuesday. fair by Loyal.

The approved project also foresees for 2022 total expenditures of BRL 4.823 trillion and a primary deficit of BRL 79.3 billion.

Precatório and Aid Brazil

One of the expenses that grew the most in relation to the initial proposal for the 2022 Budget was Brazil Aid, which, according to the Ministry of Economy, should increase to an average benefit of R$415 monthly per family.

In the original project, R$ 34.7 billion were destined to serve 14.7 million families. The approved version allocates R$89 billion to serve 17.9 million families. The difference is R$ 54.4 billion.

The expansion was possible after the approval of the PEC dos Precatórios, in early December, which limited the payment of judicial debts, the precatório, in the coming years and changed the methodology of the spending ceiling, freeing more than R$ 110 billion in space for expenses next year.

The court orders payable in 2022 reached BRL 89.1 billion, or 60% more than the amount authorized for this year, of BRL 55.6 billion.

According to the text approved for the Budget at the CMO, already incorporating the changes made by the PEC, the government will pay R$ 45.6 billion of this total in 2022.

New proposal for the spending ceiling

When presenting the final version of his text at the CMO, rapporteur Hugo Leal also proposed an amendment to the Constitution (PEC) with the objective of “improving” the spending ceiling. The idea is that the fiscal rule can be redefined every four years, through a complementary law published in the first year of the presidential term.

Until now, this innovation had not been part of the discussions about the budget piece.

Created in 2016, the spending ceiling limited the Union’s expenditure growth to the previous year’s inflation for 20 years, until 2026. This means that the total spending pie should not have a real increase throughout this period.

*With information from Gabrielle Varela, CNN, Agência Câmara, Agência Senado and Reuters