Lira doubles housing allowance for deputies – 01/24/2023 – Power

On the eve of the election of the Chamber of Deputies, the current president and candidate for re-election, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), doubled the total amount of housing assistance for parliamentarians, who may receive up to R$ 8,401 with the benefit.

Lira also increased the amount available for reimbursement with fuel and increased the number of possible trips made with the parliamentary quota.

The act, published in the Diário da Câmara last Friday (19), takes effect on February 1, the date on which the next election for the presidency of the House, for the positions of the board of directors and also for the thematic commissions. .

Currently, the housing allowance for deputies is R$ 4,253 and deputies are still entitled to a complement, if requested, of R$ 1,747, through the parliamentary quota. Lira’s decision boosts this new amount, which becomes R$4,148 —and the total benefit exceeds R$8,400.

The quota available for reimbursement with the use of fuel, of BRL 6,000, also increased considerably, rising to BRL 9,392.

In addition, a paragraph was added to the parliamentary quota that states that the deputy is still entitled “to reimbursement of up to four segments of air tickets, round trip, per month, with the Federal District as destination and the respective state of representation as origin “.

Currently, parliamentarians can pay for travel using the parliamentary quota, which has an annual spending cap. The new device says that the four stretches are “beyond the established quota” and that the path can be to other places in Brazil, as long as it is close to some of the deputy’s residence.

In 2020, the parliamentary quota was little used during the year due to the pandemic, which reduced spending on parliamentary activity.

However, as shown by Sheetin December of that year, congressmen spent all the money saved during isolation and recorded a record expenditure of public funds, directing the money to purchase tickets and print magazines, for example, including making use of retroactive invoices.

This is because the amount of the parliamentary quota is annual, that is, what was not spent, would return to the Union when the year turned.

Lira’s nods to deputies take place a week before the elections for the next Legislature of the Chamber of Deputies, which will take place on the 1st.

The deputy, however, already has his re-election practically guaranteed, having managed to gather support from all the main parties in the House, from the PT of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the PL of Jair Bolsonaro.

The dispute should be concentrated between petistas and centrão parties for the space of each one in the other main command posts of the House: the Board of Directors, the permanent committees and the Budget.

In the next legislature, which begins on February 1, the federation led by the PT will have the second largest bench, with 81 parliamentarians — the first will be the PL, with 99 deputies.

If Lira (PP-AL) and also Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) confirm their favoritism to continue commanding the Chamber and the Senate, the National Congress should start work in line with the agenda defined by the Lula government.

In the economic area, the focus will be on approving the new fiscal anchor —in replacement of the spending cap— and tax reform.

In the political field, the priority will be the analysis of the provisional measures that restructured the Esplanada dos Ministérios, which jumped from 23 to 37 folders, in addition to the possible overthrow of vetoes by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the discussion of proposals in response to the coup attacks by January 8th.

Government leaders already rule out moving forward with what they call the “leftist agenda” — the expression agenda of customs was used to refer to Bolsonaro’s conservative agenda.

That is, the government and its allies in Congress are going to abandon for the time being issues that could cause noise and harm the economic agenda, such as the expansion of the rules on legal abortion and the inclusion in the Constitution of the right to marriage for people of the same sex.

The government supporters are also looking for a way to bury the CPIs (Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry) that the PT members themselves and allies defended to investigate the acts of January 8. Lula has already said that a commission at this point could end in “tremendous confusion”.

Such as Sheet showed, Justice is considering proposing to Congress new punishments for crimes against the democratic rule of law, including the loss of public office and the impossibility of taking part in public examinations. Also under evaluation is the creation of new criminal types for those who attempt against the lives of the heads of the three Powers. In parallel, congressmen elaborate projects on the same theme.