Government released R$ 900 million in amendments on the eve of the vote of the PEC of Precatório

Exactly one week before the approval of the PEC dos Precatórios, the federal government committed R$ 909 million in rapporteur amendments. According to a survey carried out by the NGO Contas Abertas, which oversees the public budget, the amount was transferred on October 28th and 29th.

“In my opinion, the rapporteur’s amendments constitute the most promiscuous instrument, in recent decades, in the political bargain between the Legislative and the Executive. This is an official monthly fee. The amendments are immoral and unconstitutional”, criticized Castello Branco, secretary general of Contas Abertas.

Rapporteur amendments, as they became known, are a tool created by the Tax Budget that gives the parliamentarian who is the rapporteur of the Annual Budget Law the right to submit amendments that need to be prioritized by the Executive.

Also according to the NGO, in October the volume committed to amendments by the rapporteur was a record, totaling R$ 2.950 billion, a number equivalent to double the average of R$ 1 billion between June and August. In the year, the amount committed to amendments by the rapporteur is already R$9.066 billion.

“It is a ‘billionaire budget jabá’, under the control of the control bodies and the STF, which, by the way, urgently needs to take a stand”, defends Gil, from Contas Abertas.

Deputies from various parties sued the Supreme Court (STF) after the vote in the Chamber of Deputies. A group formed by deputies Alessandro Molon (PSB-RJ), Joice Hasselmann (PSDB-SP), Fernanda Melchionna (Psol-RS), Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP), Marcelo Freixo (PSB-RJ) and Vanderlei Macris (PSDB- SP) filed a lawsuit questioning the permission given by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), so that deputies on official trips could vote remotely.

In the request, the deputies claim that the session circumvented the regulations of the Chamber by allowing this vote. “On a case-by-case basis and in patent deviation, an act was issued to guarantee the necessary quorum”, they say. Justice Rosa Weber, of the STF, was appointed, this Friday (5), the rapporteur of the action.

The PDT also filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against Lira’s decision. The case was registered in the Court this Friday (5) and there is still no defined rapporteur.