Lira defends parliamentary amendments and says the government does not control the budget

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), comes out in defense of the parliamentary amendments to the 2024 Budget, which were increased from R$48 billion to R$53 billion, with a cut in investments planned for the New PAC in the year next. The change, proposed on Wednesday (20) and which will be discussed in the Joint Budget Committee (CMO) this Thursday afternoon (21), generated noise and criticism behind the scenes.

This is because the increase in parliamentary amendments with mandatory payment and even commitment calendars tie up and reduce the government’s investment capacity, taking resources to deputies’ local policies instead of proposals at the federal level. The increase in these resources will occur in an election year for the mayoral race, with expenditure expected mainly during the first half of the year.

Lira defended this type of amendment and stated that the government has its own investment programs and policies, but that it does not control the budget. According to him, there are frequent conversations with the government – ​​there were even last weekend as well.

“The rapporteur came to my house [residência oficial] and said that the government ‘did not send the amendments from the National Congress in the budget’. We asked the government to make the cuts, since it forgot or by chance did not send the amendments agreed with Congress, which are committee amendments, that the government point out where it would be cut, where the government thought it was overinflated”, he said in interview with GloboNews.

According to Lira, the government made the cuts it considered necessary to comply with the agreement made with parliamentarians, and not the other way around. “Parliamentary amendments make changes to people’s lives, such as sanitation, asphalt, houses, water, in a diverse and direct way, because they are the ones who follow Brazilians’ lives all the time”, he added.

Arthur Lira also defended that the Budgetary Guidelines Law (LDO), which provides the general guidelines for spending and investments, should be discussed throughout the year, and not just at the end of each year, and that this leaves room for an interpretation of that it is the Executive Branch that has power over resources.

Lira states that this is not the case, and that “in reality, he [governo] forwards public policies to be assessed, voted on, modified and monitored by Parliament”.

“When the government neglects a budgetary rule, there will always be another rule that causes this negligence to be remedied”, he concluded, reinforcing that the budget has been created together with the government and the other deputies and senators.

Also according to Arthur Lira, the deputies supported the government throughout the year by approving measures and projects forwarded “on all important agendas for the country […] since the transition PEC”, he emphasized.