By decision of Minister Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the resources destined to the payment of social programs to combat poverty and extreme poverty, such as Bolsa Família, may be outside the limit of the spending ceiling. The decision, taken on Sunday night (18) responds to a request from the Sustainability Network party.
“I consider it legally possible that any additional expenditure of resources with the objective of defraying the expenses related to the maintenance, in the 2023 financial year, of the Auxílio Brasil program (or any social program that succeeds it) can be made possible by opening an extraordinary credit, it should be noted that such expenses are not included in the calculation base and in the limits established in the constitutional spending ceiling”, says an excerpt from Mendes’ decision.
In Gilmar Mendes’ understanding, the spending ceiling cannot be “conceived as an end in itself” and not allow resources for “fundamental rights advocated by the Constitution” not to be released. “In this context, there is an urgent need to develop similar mechanisms within the scope of social responsibility, facilitating the elaboration, implementation, consolidation and expansion of social public policies by all the Federative Entities”, argues the minister.
Another point highlighted by Gilmar Mendes is that the ceiling law itself already contained instruments capable of allowing the opening of fiscal spaces to fulfill the State’s ‘social responsibilities’.
Congress
The decision was taken in the midst of difficulties for the elected government to approve the so-called Transition PEC in the Chamber of Deputies. In addition to the amount for the payment of the aid, the text already approved by the senators, also intends to recompose the budget of different ministries, outside the spending ceiling. The expectation is that deputies vote on the text later this week in the plenary of the House.
The proposal approved in the Senate establishes that the new government will have 145 billion reais in addition to the ceiling: 70 billion will be to fund the social benefit of 600 reais with an additional 150 reais per child up to six years old. The proposal also opens fiscal space for another 23 billion reais in investments for a period of two years and not for four years, as the transition team wanted.
In the Chamber, parliamentarians defend that the text has validity of one year. Another amendment that is under discussion is an even lower value than that approved in the Senate, which reduced the ceiling value from R$ 175 to R$ 145 billion.
