The president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, coordinator of the Political Articulation of the transition, said today (23) that there is still a lack of consensus on the deadline for the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that excludes the new Bolsa Família from the public spending ceiling rule, the PEC of the Transition. The discussion is whether the resources of the social program will be permanently outside the cap, for 4 years or less than that period. “It’s the biggest noise we have inside Congress”, admitted Gleisi.
“We have to have more predictability in the sense of policy sustainability. It cannot be a hiccup, do it for 1 year and then renew. We are not going to end hunger, misery, crises in the country in 1 year. As we want a political solution that goes through the House of Representatives of the people, I think we have a responsibility to offer a longer-term solution, to provide predictability, not for the government but for the people, so that people are not afraid, fearful of having interrupted their livelihood before they could have a way out”, argued Gleisi.
The political council for the transition of the Lula government met today (23), at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center (CCBB), and the main topic of the meeting was the negotiation around the PEC. The expectation was that the final text would be presented this Wednesday, but it could still take longer. According to Gleisi, according to the Senate’s regulations, the processing of the PEC should only begin next week.
“If it goes to [o prazo da PEC] being only 1 year, almost does not justify the legislative path, because there are other instruments. But we want and are making an effort for the policy to resolve this, so we will have more time to talk, I think we have this period of 24 hours, 48 hours, to discuss and present”, said the PT president .
Last week, the vice president-elect and general coordinator of the transition team, Geraldo Alckmin, presented the draft of the proposal to the National Congresswhich excludes BRL 175 billion from the ceiling rule for the 2023 Budget. With this, it will be possible to maintain the minimum amount of BRL 600 for the Bolsa Família program, currently Auxílio Brasil, in addition to establishing an additional amount of BRL $150 per child under age 6 for each beneficiary.
Established in 2016, the Constitutional Amendment to the Expenditure Ceiling limits the increase in the public budget to the growth of inflation in the previous year.
As it is a constitutional amendment, the PEC, when presented, needs to have a minimum of 27 signatures from senators to start processing in the House. And it needs to be approved by the end of this year with a qualified quorum of three-fifths in both the Senate and the House, with voting in two rounds.
For Gleisi, there is no problem with the processing time. “If there is a political agreement, the legislative houses have always been very quick, so we will try to get it right, since this is the biggest noise, of the PEC deadline, let’s see if we reach a good term”, he said.
The transition political council meeting was attended by representatives of 15 political parties, including their leaders. They are Agir, Avante, PSDB, Citizenship, MDB, PCdoB, PDT, PROS, PSB, PSD, PSOL, PT, PV, Rede and Solidariedade.
