The Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of the Transition, which aims to remove up to R$ 175 billion from the federal spending ceiling next year, will be postponed until next week, confirmed today (11) the former governor of Piauí and senator-elect. Wellington Dias (PT). One of the coordinators of the budget group of the transition team, Dias said that Senate and House party leaders sent suggestions for adjustments to the text.
According to Dias, the proposal should be presented next Wednesday (16). One of the points being negotiated is whether Bolsa Família will be removed from the spending ceiling for several years or whether the withdrawal will be permanent.
“One of the points that still needs to be understood is this: it is possible to have an exceptionality that is while Brazil has a social program such as Auxílio Brasil or Bolsa Família or if it has a fixed period of four years”, said Dias after the meeting. with the general rapporteur of the 2023 Budget project, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI).
Castro admitted that the deadline is short. According to him, the approval of the PEC and the 2023 Budget will only be possible if there is consensus on the content of the proposal, which requires continuous negotiations.
tax liability
Dias and Castro said that the value of the PEC is R$ 175 billion and that the amount should not be revised. The former governor of Piauí, however, assured that the entire negotiation is being carried out with “strict care” in relation to public accounts and does not seek to disrespect fiscal responsibility.
“We are doing [tudo] with great responsibility with the control of public accounts. It is just what is strictly necessary, and within a situation in which, as we also have resources for investments, we believe that this format will once again guarantee the country’s growth conditions. And it is with the growth of the country that we even improve public accounts”, said Wellington Dias.
The 2023 Budget rapporteur also countered the market’s criticisms and said that fiscal and social responsibility are not incompatible. “They are not incompatible. On the contrary, if we have fiscal responsibility, it facilitates social responsibility. That’s what Lula did during his eight years in government”, declared Castro.
The statements come a day after the financial market received badly from the speech of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In a meeting with parliamentarians from the allied base yesterday (10), Lula criticized the spending cap and said that the population is made to suffer in order to guarantee “this kind of fiscal stability”.
other points
In addition to the Transition PEC, Dias e Castro discussed the distribution of areas covered by the expansion of next year’s Budget by R$ 105 billion. The amount will arise after removing the spending ceiling of the installment that guarantees the payment of a minimum amount of R$ 400 for Auxílio Brasil. This is the amount of the benefit that appears in the original proposal for the 2023 Budget. The remaining R$ 70 billion from the PEC will be used to maintain the current value of R$ 600 and guarantee the payment of an additional R$ 150 to families with children of up to 6 years.
With the R$ 105 billion to be opened in the Budget, the elected government intends to give priority to programs that had significant drops in resources for 2023, such as Popular Pharmacy, school lunches, indigenous health, distribution of medicines to people with AIDS, popular housing, recovery of roads and completion of interrupted works. These points had been advanced by the vice president-elect Geraldo Alckmin at the installation of the transitional cabinet last Tuesday (8).
