The government () will need to commit almost R$1 billion in amendments per day, on average, to be able to execute all the funds stamped by parliamentarians for their electoral strongholds by the end of 2024.
Skepticism that this effort is viable is one of the factors that fuel congressmen’s unwillingness with the agendas of interest to the Executive, including that presented by the Minister (Finance).
According to data from the Budget Panel, as of Monday (9) there were R$13.3 billion in parliamentary amendments not yet committed, almost 26% of the total R$51.9 billion allocated to these funds.
Commitment is the first phase of spending, when the government reserves resources for future payment. Considering the 14 working days until the end of the year, it would be necessary to commit an average of R$951 million per day to exhaust the resources available to congressmen.
Discounting the R$1.3 billion that is blocked to compensate for the increase in other mandatory expenses, this average would fall to R$858 million — a still significant amount. The freeze may be reversed by the end of the year, if the economic team sees a lower growth in other expenses.
Amendments are a way in which deputies and senators can send money for works and projects in their electoral bases and, in doing so, increase their political capital. A , and not the locations with the highest demand in the country.
Making the commitment even in 2024 is crucial for parliamentarians, as committed and unpaid expenses can be paid off in the following years, through the so-called “remains to be paid”. On the other hand, if the year ends without the commitment having been made, space is lost, as a new Budget begins.
After an intracranial hemorrhage, the following were selected to unlock the amendments and the cost containment package: Haddad, (Institutional Relations), (Casa Civil) and Jorge Messias ().
This Tuesday (10), the government, after five months of crisis between the Powers and threats from Congress to block the Executive’s spending cut package.
The new rules were published under the justification of adapting the process to the recent decision of the (Supreme Federal Court) on the subject, but the text could open loopholes for congressmen to dribble regarding the transparency of the amendments.
In Congress, parliamentarians view the government’s promise to release amendments by the end of the year with suspicion. Even with the ordinance to facilitate the transfer of money, the predominant assessment is that there is no more time to carry out what has already been indicated.
In individual tax amendments, the government has already committed R$21.6 billion, but R$3.45 billion still needs to be executed. As for the mandatory bench amendments, R$6.25 billion was allocated, and another R$2.3 billion remains.
In the commission amendments, the commitments total R$ 10.1 billion. The budgeted R$5.4 billion remains to be executed, of which R$1.3 billion is blocked due to the increase in other mandatory expenses.
There is also R$2.7 billion in bench amendments included within the discretionary expenses of the Executive Branch. Of this amount, only R$586.7 million was executed, with R$2.1 billion remaining outstanding.
The government leader in Congress, senator Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP), stated this Tuesday that the government will do “everything possible and impossible” to honor all payments until the end of the year.
“The enforceable norm [da Advocacia-Geral da União] to give strength to the explicit ordinance and provide the necessary peace of mind to execute the terms of yesterday’s decision [segunda-feira, 9] of Minister Flávio Dino”, he said. “This is the challenge we have, to guarantee the execution [das emendas] until December 31st. We’re going to work on that.”
The executive secretary of , Dario Durigan, also said, on Tuesday, that he believes that government measures to unlock the payment of parliamentary amendments should not be .
“Yesterday [segunda-feira, 9] the government’s legal team analyzed the Supreme Court’s decision and communicated it, both to deputies and senators and to the operational areas of the government, to say what the possible interpretation was,” said Durigan.
“The timing is tight. The decision was made yesterday, just yesterday we had a series of conversations to clarify, so there will be an opinion from the AGU fulfilling this enforceable force, indicating to the operational areas what can be done. And, at the same time, at the same time, other normative and infra-legal acts that will operationalize the agreement that was reached”, he stated.
In the secretary’s opinion, the measures will be sufficient to alleviate tension with Congress. “I think there is a voting effort now at the end of the year,” he said.
