A group of parliamentarians filed today at the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) a request for an injunction against the Minister of Citizenship, Ronaldo Vieira Bento, for the suspension of a federal government project aimed at exchanging part of the 18 million Bolsa Família for a template with the Auxílio Brasil logo. The change has an estimated cost of R$ 670 million.
“The mere exchange of unequivocally operational cards just to replace the name of the social program, with a clearly electoral purpose, cannot be allowed by this Court of Auditors, under penalty of creating another large and unnecessary expense in such restricted budgetary conditions”, say the congressmen in the application.
Model of what the Auxílio Brasil card will look like
Image: Disclosure
The request is signed by Senator Alessandro Vieira (PSDB-SE), by federal deputies Tabata Amaral (PSB-SP) and Felipe Rigoni (União Brasil-ES), and by state deputy Renan Ferreirinha (PSD-RJ). “The precautionary measure to be granted will, therefore, prevent the resources from being effectively used to achieve the ulterior and unacceptable objective of the current government”, affirm the congressmen.
It is not possible to accept the use of public resources to try to create a personal brand in such an important program
Alessandro Vieira, senator, to UOL
“The government is in a hurry to start exchanging the material to try to avoid the restrictions of the electoral law and, therefore, Caixa would already be preparing the design of the new card. The intention is that in the coming weeks the phases of distribution of pilots will begin of this new means of payment while still in Brasília, to then accelerate the distribution process to the population.
Created at the end of last year to replace Bolsa Família, Auxílio Brasil raised the average ticket from around R$200 to R$400, at least. Negotiations between the government and Caixa Econômica Federal, responsible for paying the benefit, began at the beginning of the year and are at an advanced stage.
“The government is in a hurry to start exchanging the material to try to avoid the restrictions of the electoral law and, therefore, Caixa would already be preparing the design of the new card. The intention is that in the coming weeks the phases of distribution of pilots will begin of this new means of payment while still in Brasilia. To then accelerate the distribution process to the population,” the group said in a statement.
O UOL contacted the Ministry of Citizenship and the Planalto Palace, which had not responded until the last update of this report.
