Bolsa Família Welfare Program 'Enslaves People,' Says Brazil's Lower House President in the US

01/18/2018 - 11h37

In a lecture given on Wednesday, January 17, at the Brazil Institute study center in Washington, D.C., the president of Brazil' Lower House, Rodrigo Maia (DEM), said that the Bolsa Família social welfare program "enslaves people" and criticized the social policies carried out during the administrations of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, both members of the Workers' Party (PT).

"Creating a program to enslave people is not a good social program. A good program in one which includes people and gives them conditions to return to society on their own legs and get a job," said Maia.

The congressman believes that the Bolsa Família program generates "dependence" and "ties people to the government" as it does not offer a way out, that is, a job or an opportunity for better education.

Maia, who intends to run for president for his party, denied he is already a candidate; however, he criticized the fiscal crisis and said he supports "restructuring the Brazilian State" through reforms such as that of the public social security.

Maia also criticized the social policies that he called "overlapping" and "unproductive." He also said that they should be assessed according to their results.

Maia singled out the "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" program, stating that it was a "poorly done social project" as it was not followed by other public policies, such as income generation for the families benefiting from it, basic sanitation and the construction of schools and medical facilities in neighboring areas.

"This will end up transforming these areas into places like Vila Kennedy and Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro," said Maia.

The president of the Lower House did not defend, however, ending the Bolsa Família program, which he called "a liberal program that guarantees equality of conditions - but not in the way the PT did it."

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Mateus Bonomi/Folhapress
	Rodrigo Maia, president of Brazil' Lower House of Congress