A legal opinion received by Palácio do Planalto changed the government’s strategy to contain the increase in Auxílio Brasil to R$600 articulated by the opposition.
With no support to let the provisional measure (MP) that expanded the program lose its validity, aides to President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) retreated and now see negotiation in the National Congress as the only way to prevent the increase in the benefit, considered a fiscal bomb. to public coffers.
To succeed in the endeavor, the bet is on the support of the mayor, Arthur Lira (Progressistas-AL). This Tuesday (26), he defended the amount of R$ 400 for the program that replaced Bolsa Família and said that the MP “very likely” will be voted on today.
“I think the amount is sufficient, he is responsible, it is quite different from what the Bolsa Família was. We had an average value of R$70 to R$80 as a floor and a maximum value of R$175 to R$180”, said Lira. “Auxílio Brasil comes with R$ 406 for a floor and R$ 852 for a ceiling. It is already a very big effort by the government, in addition to which the queues have been zeroed and there is still demand to enter the program.”
In the corridors of the Planalto Palace, the sinking of the “operation lapse” is viewed with concern. The fear is that even members of the allied base may vote with the opposition to increase the benefit, so as not to be branded as “enemies of the increase in aid” in an election year.
as showed the Estadão/Broadcast (Grupo Estado’s real-time news system) last week, the government intended to let the MP expire on May 16 and then issue a decree and set the program at R$400 until the end of 2022. Secretariat of Legal Affairs (SAJ) alerted ministers Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil) and Célio Faria Jr. (Government Secretariat), articulators of the strategy, that leaving the text to lapse could return the program to the levels of the old Bolsa Família.
MP is subject to amendments that make the benefit permanent and higher
The government leader in the Chamber, Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), confirmed to the report the legal opinion received by Palácio do Planalto, which advises against letting the provisional measure on Auxílio Brasil lapse, but said he is confident that the Executive will approve the MP. in the current molds and prevent the increase of the benefit to R$ 600. “It will not increase”, he said. Even so, the parliamentarian stated that he is not yet in the field in the negotiations, because he is waiting for the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, to define the MP’s rapporteur. He also did not guarantee the vote on the text for this week.
Last week, Lira admitted the possibility of the benefit amount being raised in the plenary. “Risk always has,” she said.
The deputy defended that the debate be held with “responsibility” and declared that it is necessary to avoid an imbalance in public accounts. A government ally, Lira said, however, that the plenary will decide what it thinks is “convenient”.
So far, 51 amendments to the MP have been presented. Suggestions for changes to the text filed by opposition parties, such as PT, PSOL, PSB, PCdoB and PDT, include, in addition to raising the value of Auxílio Brasil to R$ 600, making the benefit permanent. As edited by the government, the measure only provides for the payment of R$ 400 until the end of 2022.
A milestone for PT governments, the party that will face President Jair Bolsonaro at the polls in October, Bolsa Família paid an average of R$189. Auxílio Brasil came into effect in November last year with an average benefit of R$217.18. The following month, the government managed to pay the first installment of R$ 400, which should remain until the end of 2022 as a showcase for the campaign for the reelection of the president this year. The chief executive’s recent gain in political stamina in polls of voting intentions is already attributed, in part, to the payment of the benefit.
