The Senate plenary approved on Wednesday night (4) the project that makes possible the payment of the Auxílio Brasil (ex-Bolsa Família) of R$ 400. The senators maintained in the proposal the forecast, incorporated by the Chamber of Deputies, of payment of this amount to the program’s beneficiaries, and not just in 2022, the year in which President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) will seek re-election. Initiatives to raise the value, however, were rejected.
As it has already passed the Chamber and was approved without changes in the Senate, the proposal now goes to presidential sanction.
In December of last year, Bolsonaro had edited MP (Provisional Measure) No. 1,076, which gave rise to the proposal approved this Wednesday. The measure established an extraordinary benefit that allows the Auxílio Brasil paid to the population to reach R$ 400. Without the benefit, the aid would be R$ 224.
As it came from an MP, the benefit was already being applied since its edition, in December. The MP also originally provided for the payment of BRL 400 only in 2022. After that, the amount would return to BRL 224.
The payment of R$ 400, to be made possible, also depended on the approval of the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) of the Precatórios, which passed in Congress at the end of last year. The PEC brought the necessary fiscal space in the Budget for Aid Brazil.
During the discussions in the Chamber, last week, the rapporteur of the proposal, federal deputy João Roma (PL-BA), decided to accept the amendment presented by federal deputy Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), which maintained the value of R$ 400 also after 2022. This change was accepted by the Senate.
