Senate approves PEC with state of emergency and BRL 41.25 billion in aid

Senate approves PEC with state of emergency and BRL 41.25 billion in aid

After intense negotiations between the government and the opposition, the plenary of the Federal Senate approved this Thursday (30), in the first round, by 72 to 1, the new version of the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) for Fuels, which provides for the recognition of the state of emergency in 2022 in the country and a package of R$ 41.25 billion in aid. The only vote against was that of Senator José Serra (PSDB-SP).

Highlights have all been removed. Thus, the senators are already going to vote in the 2nd round.

The PEC creates an aid of R$1,000 for truck drivers and an as-yet-undefined aid to taxi drivers, in addition to expanding Auxílio Brasil to at least R$600 per month and the gas voucher to around R$120 each two months. These measures will be valid until December 31 of this year, according to the text.

The text also increases by R$ 500 million the budget for the Alimenta Brasil program, for the purchase of food from small producers and indigenous peoples, among others, by public bodies.

The impact of resources to fund these initiatives is estimated at R$ 41.25 billion, which will be outside the spending ceiling and the fiscal result target of the 2022 Budget Guidelines Law, according to the rapporteur, Senator Fernando Bezerra ( MDB-PE).

The proposal still needs to be approved in a second round in the Senate floor before it can be analyzed by the Chamber of Deputies.

The government’s initial intention was to have voted on the PEC this Wednesday (29), but the consideration was postponed after requests from senators for more time to analyze the text.

This is because there were many complaints from the opposition to President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) about possible actions that the text would allow the federal government through the state of emergency.

The PEC recognizes a state of emergency in Brazil in 2022. The justification is the “extraordinary and unpredictable rise in the prices of oil, fuels and their derivatives and the resulting social impacts”. In practice, this was the alternative found by the federal government to avoid incurring possible electoral crimes because of the elections in October this year.

This is because the Electoral Law prohibits the free distribution of goods, values ​​or benefits by the public administration, except in cases of public calamity, state of emergency or social programs already in place in the year prior to the election.

One passage provided that the PEC measures would not observe any restriction or legal prohibition of any nature. The opposition assessed that the section could give a “blank check” to the government to reallocate resources, advertise the benefits with the extra funds without respecting budgetary and electoral laws, and even enact a GLO (Law and Order Guarantee Operation). ) close to elections, for example.

After complaints and many negotiations, the circumstances and possibilities opened from the state of emergency were restricted by the rapporteur.

Throughout the week, the opposition came to criticize the measure of the state of emergency itself, even more so since at the end of April the Ministry of Health declared the end of the “Emergency in Public Health of National Importance” caused by the covid-19 pandemic. .

Source: CNN Brasil