Senator Alexandre Silveira’s opinion says that the next government should send a proposal on a new fiscal rule to Congress
The PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) report determines that the next government must submit a complementary bill with a new fiscal framework by the end of 2023. In practice, this obliges the future president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), present alternatives to the spending cap as early as next year.
“This is the forecast of a complementary law for the institution of a sustainable fiscal regime (a new fiscal framework) […] with the aim of guaranteeing the country’s macroeconomic stability and creating the right conditions for socioeconomic growth.”wrote the rapporteur for the PEC in the Senate in his opinion, Alexandre Silveira (PSD-MG). Here’s the full (397 KB).
The senator also proposed raising the spending ceiling by R$175 billion for 2 years, but did not specify what should be done with these extra resources. That decision would be the responsibility of the transitional government and permanent committees of Congress.
In practice, the spending ceiling is extended for 2 years and the resources can be used to fund an income transfer program such as Auxílio Brasil (which should be renamed Bolsa Família), but this will depend on decisions made after approval. of the PEC.
“We opted to add BRL 175 billion per year to the Spending Ceiling limit for the Executive Branch in the years 2023 and 2024, instead of excluding the Spending Ceiling program”wrote Silveira.
During the negotiations at the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA) agreed to reduce the deadline to deliver the new proposal for the spending cap until the 1st half of 2023 to facilitate an agreement on the text.
Despite this, the vote has not yet been unlocked in the collegiate. The elected government is running out of time for the proposal to be analyzed in the Senate and in the Chamber before the congressional recess, on December 22nd.
The initial idea was to have a joint negotiation between the Senate and the Chamber so that the senators would approve a text that was palatable to the deputies. Thus, the risk of the Lower House changing the project and it needing a new analysis by the senators would be lower.
Deputies, however, did not secure a vote without changing the text if there is no broad agreement.
It was requested that the Senate approve the proposal this week, even if there is no agreement closed with the Chamber. In this case, the deputies would make some changes to the text and the senators would need to be mobilized to vote on the proposal again afterwards.
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