Bolsa Família: Government concedes and disarms bomb worth R$ 19 billion – 05/10/2023 – Market

The political articulators of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) had to take the field this Wednesday (10) and give in to Congress to defuse a bomb of R$ 19 billion in the MP (provisional measure) of Bolsa Família.

An amendment by Senator Alessandro Vieira (PSDB-SE) sought, in practice, to allow families to accumulate the receipt of the Bolsa Família with the BPC (Benefit of Continuous Provision), paid to the elderly and low-income people with disabilities.

To avoid approving this change, which would have an immediate effect on public accounts, the Executive had to agree to an authorization for the issue to be regulated in the future. The compromise minimizes and postpones the fiscal impact, but Congress has already warned that it will demand its implementation.

The BPC is a benefit worth one minimum wage (today at R$1,320), and its receipt is accounted for in the calculation of family income per person, according to the MP edited by Lula.

As the Bolsa Família is granted to those who receive up to R$ 218 per person, the inclusion of the BPC value in the family income practically makes the request for the transfer of additional income unfeasible. The purpose of the amendment was to exclude the BPC from the calculation, allowing more Brazilians to receive the Bolsa Família – which pays a minimum benefit of R$ 600.

The amendment was rejected by the MP’s rapporteur, deputy Dr. Francisco (PT-PI), but Vieira presented a prominent request for the suggestion to be voted on separately.

With problems in its allied base in the National Congress, the government feared suffering a defeat, which would have a strong impact on public accounts. The cost of the change would be R$ 19 billion this year alone, according to calculations by the MDS (Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger).

Articulators from the Planalto Palace were scheduled this Wednesday to resolve the impasse. The leader of the government in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), went to the mixed commission in which the MP was analyzed to try to convince Vieira to withdraw the highlight.

The senator tried to sign another agreement, to exclude from the income calculation only the BPC paid to people with disabilities. That would limit the impact to R$11 billion, according to Vieira. The government, however, continued to resist.

With no guarantee of victory in the vote, the Executive proposed changing the wording of the text and including a non-mandatory permission, so that in the future there is a discount of percentage ranges from the value of the BPC received by people with disabilities from this Bolsa Família calculation base. In practice, the measure would make it easier for this public to access both benefits.

The proposal pleased the parliamentary supporters of the amendment, and there was an agreement to withdraw the highlight. With this, there is no immediate impact on the government’s accounts, but the senators have already warned that they will charge the government with implementing the new policy – ​​which may generate costs in the future.

“Each step taken is a step taken for the benefit of Brazilians and, now, with the commitment of the federal government to carry out this implementation in progressive bands, in the form of the regulation, we already gain the possibility of, starting tomorrow, we start charging so that we have this service as soon as possible”, said Vieira during the vote.

The granting of the Bolsa Família MP comes at a time when the government is facing difficulties in consolidating an allied base in Parliament.

At the beginning of the month, the Lula government suffered a defeat after the Chamber overturned excerpts from presidential decrees that changed provisions of the Marco do Saneamento, approved in 2020, in the management of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The MP’s report on Bolsa Família had already been subject to concessions. One of the main changes made by the rapporteur was the inclusion of breastfeeding women in the target audience of the additional benefit of R$50 per month. The original text extended the bonus to children and adolescents from 7 to 18 years old and pregnant women.

The opinion also authorizes BPC beneficiaries to take out payroll loans, being able to commit up to 35% of the monthly amount of the aid in the payment of installments – compared to 45% for INSS (National Social Security Institute) beneficiaries. Of this percentage, 30% can be allocated only to loans and financing and 5% to payroll credit card expenses.

---

What did the MP for the new Bolsa Familia foresee

• Inclusion of families with income of up to BRL 218 per person
• Payment of BRL 142 per family member, ensuring a minimum of BRL 600 per family
• Additional BRL 150 per child from 0 to 6 years old
• Additional BRL 50 per child or teenager from 7 to 18 years old and for pregnant women

What Congress Included in the Text

• Additional BRL 50 for nursing mothers
• Authorization for BPC beneficiaries to contract payroll loans, with an installment of up to 35% of the benefit
• Authorization for the government to deduct a portion of the amounts received by BPC beneficiaries from family income. In practice, the measure facilitates the accumulation of the two programs in the same home. Measure still needs to be regulated