The Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (12), by 393 votes in favor and 14 against, in the first round of the basic text of the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) which provides for the payment of social benefits until the end of the year. 
The session was suspended after technical problems in the Casa’s system, Infoleg, which records the votes of parliamentarians remotely. Voting is scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning (13). Parliamentarians still need to analyze the highlights, that is, proposals that can still modify parts of the measure and, later, to analyze it in the second round.
According to the president of the Chamber, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the Federal Police was called to investigate the “blackout” in the system. The congressman said that the two servers that house the system, from different companies, are unstable.
In addition to making remote voting unfeasible, all Chamber platforms are offline. For opposition deputies, the suspension of the session was a maneuver by Lira to avoid a setback in the vote, since according to the internal regulations, the suspension can only last one hour.
The PEC brings measures to reduce the value of fuels and also provides for the payment of social benefits until the end of the year. The article consolidates the writings of two PECs (15/22 and 1/22), without changing the merits already approved in the Senate for PEC 1/22. PEC 1/22, which provides for the payment of social benefits, was attached to PEC 15/22, which deals with fuels and was at an advanced stage of processing in the Chamber.
The text provides for an increase of R$ 200 in Auxílio Brasil until December. The PEC also proposes, until the end of the year, an aid of R$ 1 thousand for truck drivers, kitchen gas vouchers and reinforcement of the Alimenta Brasil program, in addition to installments of R$ 200 for taxi drivers, financing of free public transport for seniors and compensation for states that reduce the tax burden on biofuels.
According to the legislation, there can be no granting of new benefits or distribution of values in an election year, except in exceptional cases, such as the state of emergency. Therefore, there is a provision in the PEC that provides for the declaration of a state of emergency in the country until December 31, justified by the “extraordinary and unpredictable” rise in oil and fuel prices and their social impacts.
