Bolsa Família: Senate approves measure with gas vouchers – 06/01/2023 – Market

The Senate approved this Thursday (1st) the MP (provisional measure) of the Bolsa Família with the special benefit for breastfeeding women and guaranteeing the continuity of the Auxílio-Gás program.

The MP was symbolically approved in the Senate, without counting the votes. The text, approved by the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday (30), is sent to the President of the Republic for sanction.

One of the main changes is the inclusion of breastfeeding mothers in the target audience for the additional benefit of R$50 per month. The text sent by the Lula government (PT) to the National Congress extended the bonus only to children and adolescents from 7 to 18 years old and pregnant women.

The approved text also foresees the continuity of the payment of the extra 50% of the value of the gas cylinder for beneficiaries of the Auxílio-Gás program.

The gas voucher was initially instituted by a provisional measure of its own. After the impasse between the Chamber and the Senate at the beginning of the year regarding the processing of these texts, he was included in the Bolsa Família MP.

As the Gas-Aid program would expire this Friday (2), Congress accelerated the vote on the Bolsa Família proposal —valid until the end of June—, to avoid the end of the benefit. According to the Ministry of Regional Development, the voucher is paid to around 5.7 million families.

With the risk that the MP would not be converted into law in the necessary time, the government was already working on the possibility of issuing a decree to guarantee the payment of this additional amount.

The text approved this Thursday also authorized BPC (Continued Benefit Benefit) beneficiaries to take out payroll loans, being able to pledge 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.

The approved version also establishes that the Executive edit rules so that a family can accumulate Bolsa Família and the BPC (Benefit of Continuous Provision), paid to the elderly and low-income people with disabilities.

The idea is that, in the future, the amount received by the BPC will not be considered when assessing whether a family has the income required to be a beneficiary of Bolsa Família.

The device was included by the government during the voting in the mixed commission in view of the possibility that parliamentarians approved the accumulation of benefits immediately. The impact, however, was estimated by the government at R$ 19 billion.

In April, President Lula fulfilled his campaign promise and relaunched Bolsa Família in the first hundred days of his administration. Families with a monthly income of up to R$ 218 per person can receive the benefit.

The new Bolsa Família format provides an additional amount of R$ 50 for families with pregnant women, children and young people between 7 and 18 years old. This extra benefit has not yet taken effect.

Technicians from the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance say that Caixa’s system, which is responsible for making Bolsa Família payments, is being updated and, in June, this complement will start to be deposited.

With this, the average value per family in the social program will reach the R$ 714 expected by the government.

The monthly income is currently estimated at R$ 670 per family. At the end of 2021, when then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) switched from Bolsa Família to Auxílio Brasil, the average benefit was approximately R$ 242 per month.

Ministry calculations indicate that, on average, the new Bolsa Família will serve around 20.8 million homes this year.