The vote on the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) 15 began late this afternoon (7), in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, with measures to reduce the value of fuel and the payment of social benefits until the end of the year. The text was approved hours earlier by a special committee of the House and proceeded to the plenary.
The article consolidates the writings of two PECs, the 15/22 and the 1/22, without changing the merits already approved in the Senate for PEC 1/22. The session began with an attempt by parliamentarians to annul the addition of PEC 1, which provides for the payment of social benefits, to PEC 15, which deals with fuel and was already at an advanced stage of processing in the Chamber. They considered the joining of the two matters contrary to the House’s internal regulations. But President Arthur Lira has rejected all attempts to avoid the vote today.
The deputies are in the merit discussion phase. In practice, the measure allows the government to expand social benefits that would not be authorized in an election year. 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 a state of emergency. The device that would allow this payment 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.
There is a forecast for Auxílio Brasil of R$ 600; aid of R$ 1 thousand for truck drivers; kitchen gas vouchers and reinforcement of the Alimenta Brasil program, in addition to extra resources for taxi drivers, funding for free public transport for the elderly and compensation for states that reduce the tax burden on biofuels.
