Base and opposition in the Senate criticize bill that increases number of deputies

The complementary bill that expands from 513 to 531 the number of chairs in the House of Representatives. The article, by Deputy Dani Cunha (União-RJ), is reported in the Senate by Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI).

According to Senate President David Alcolumbre (Union-AP), the inclusion of this item on the Senate Plenary’s agenda complies with a request from the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB). The deadline granted by the Supreme Court ends on June 30, so Congress tries to accelerate the analysis.

But the project is the target of criticism of both base and opposition senators because it can lead to increased expenses, at a time when the country has difficulty adjusting public accounts.

According to Senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES), it is a derision and an affront to the Brazilian citizen the bill that proposes to increase the number federal deputies.

“We live in a country where much of the population is informality, which lives with R $ 1,518 a month, which works 44 hours per week. What we need is to fight to reduce social inequality. I hope the house has haughtiness, serenity, sobriety and balance necessary to legislate in defense of those who need it most,” said the senator.

Senator Izalci (PL-DF) said the measure represents a unnecessary setback and expenditure at a time of austerity. “Brazil needs to reduce the public machine, not expand it,” said Izalci.

The proposal, approved by the House in May, seeks to meet STF determination on the lag in the proportional representation of the states. Izalci, however, argues that the redistribution of vacancies does not require an increase in parliamentarians.

Senator Chico Rodrigues (PSB-RR) also criticized the increase and said he believed the representations are already within the limit pattern to defend states.

Why the increase?

The reaction of the House to increase the number of deputies came after determination of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) which, in 2023, warned the house about the need to update the distribution of vacancies by state, so as to be proportional to the population of each. This update has not been done since 1994, when the 1985 census was considered.

What does the rapporteur say?

The vote of Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), rapporteur of the Senate bill is in favor of expanding the number of deputies. He points out that the vacancies in the House remain unchanged, notwithstanding the population growth of more than 40% in the period and the occurrence of significant changes in the country’s demographic distribution. ”

The text also states “that the number of parliamentarians proposed – 531 federal deputies – maintains Brazil among democracies with the lowest proportion between the number of deputies and the size of its population.”

From the text approved in the House, no state will lose deputies, and 9 of them will earn between 1 and 4 chairs. See the changes:

Chamber did not answer

Asked about the impact on the House accounts, with parliamentarians’ wages and staff, as well as cabinet funds, as well as other benefits, the press office did not respond. He said the request should be made via the Law of Access to Information.