The transition team of the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and the rapporteur for the 2023 Budget, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), agreed this Thursday (3) to present a PEC (proposal for amendment to the Constitution) to authorize expenditures above the spending ceiling — including the continuation of the minimum benefit of R$600 from Auxílio Brasil (financial relief program).
The so-called "transition PEC" is necessary to avoid a social blackout next year, as the budget proposal sent in August by the Bolsonaro government ensures only an average amount of R$ 405.21 in Auxílio Brasil, besides imposing severe cuts to housing programs and also to the Popular Pharmacy. "We decided to take to the party leaders the idea of approving a PEC, as an emergency measure, for the transition from this government to the next government, exceptionalizing some expenses that are unavoidable from the spending ceiling, such as the Bolsa Família [Auxílio Brasil] in the amount of R$ 600", said Castro.
The value of this extra expense is yet to be defined in technical meetings in the coming days. A PT interlocutor in the budget negotiations, the former governor of Piauí and senator-elect Wellington Dias said that citing any figures now would be speculative. "It's a guessing game," he said after leaving one of several meetings on the subject this Thursday.
Translated by Cassy Dias