Lula spares military personnel from cuts in parliamentary amendments – 01/26/2024 – Power

President Lula (PT) spared the Armed Forces resources from being cut in the 2024 Budget. By sanctioning the text, the PT member vetoed R$5.6 billion in parliamentary amendments, money stamped for deputies and senators.

As shown by Sheetthe PT member’s scissors hit hard ministries commanded by central parties, such as Tourism and Sports — headed by Celso Sabino (União Brasil) and André Fufuca (PP), respectively.

But three budgetary units linked to the Armed Forces had the same treatment as ministries considered central by the Palácio do Planalto, such as Health and Education, and were spared the cut.

Maintaining values ​​is another of the PT member’s gestures to the barracks, which included a series of military commitments on his trips at the beginning of the year.

The Army Command maintained the amount of R$10 million in commission amendments that had been approved by Congress, while the Air Force Command will receive R$7 million from this type of resource — the cut in the Air Force was minimal, just R$11 thousand (0.2% of the initial forecast).

The highest amount in commission amendment was allocated to the Navy’s Naval Fund, with more than R$122 million. The funds were protected by Lula.

Amendments are resources that deputies and senators send to works and projects and, in doing so, reap political capital. On the other hand, it is a way for ministries to increase their cash flow in a very restricted budget linked to the Legislature.

In the case of the Army and Air Force Commands, the amount reserved for commission amendments is close to the amount that ministries such as Science and Technology and Development, Industry and Foreign Trade would receive, also through amendments. However, the president vetoed these transfers to both departments.

The figure for the Naval Fund is practically the same as that for the Social Assistance Fund, a priority area for the president, but which also suffered from cuts.

Generals reported to Sheet which only had their budgets modified within the scope of the new PAC (Growth Acceleration Project). Cuts of almost R$350 million were made by Congress, and Lula was unable to recover the initial forecast.

The government stipulated to hand over R$6 billion to the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense for investments in strategic projects in 2024. The amount was reduced to R$5.6 billion in this year’s Budget Law.

The main cut was made in Army investments, which saw the PAC reduced from R$1.5 billion to R$1.3 billion. The Air Force had a reduction of R$130 million, and the Navy, of R$7 million.

Another significant cut made by Congress was in the budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Defense for the administration of the department. Technicians reported that the reduction represents two thirds of the amount initially predicted — from R$126 million foreseen in the original budget proposal to R$42 million in the budget sanctioned by Lula.

The situation was presented on Thursday (25) to the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro. The department is still evaluating ways to recover at least part of the resources withdrawn by Congress, as the funds are considered insufficient to maintain the functioning of the headquarters.

The relationship between Lula and the Armed Forces has been marked by mistrust since the transition, but there has been a gradual easing over the last year.

The president’s first trips this year were to PT strongholds in the Northeast, but they were filled with military commitments, in a gesture to the barracks.

The president participated in a ceremony to implement the Aerospace Technology Park in Salvador, in a project designed by the Ministry of Defense with the Air Force Command, until the signing of the commitment term for the construction of the Sergeants’ School.

He was also at a ceremony to hand over the position of the Northeast Military Command, in Recife, when General Kleber Vasconcellos passed the post to General Maurílio Ribeiro.

The background to the mistrust has always been the assessment, among Lula’s advisors, that high-ranking officers were committed to Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) political project. Lula himself has already signaled that he saw the participation of uniformed people in the anti-democratic attacks on January 8th.

A few days after the scenes of vandalism in Brasília, he declared in an interview with GloboNews that the attacks were the “beginning of a coup d’état” and that members of the Armed Forces who want to engage in politics must take off their uniforms and resign from their positions.

Lula’s veto on the 2024 parliamentary amendments, announced on Monday (22), is relevant because it could trigger a crisis with Congress. Ministers and members of the Planalto have already contacted leaders and the presidents of both Houses to try to overcome the situation. Parliamentarians are already talking about overturning the PT member’s veto.

In addition to the military, the head of the Executive spared the cuts to portfolios most closely linked to his management, such as Women and the Environment.

“The criterion was to preserve the continuity of public policies and the floors for health, education and investments”, said the Ministry of Planning, in response to a question from the Sheet about cuts this year.

When sanctioning this year’s Budget, on Monday, the PT member applied a cut of R$5.6 billion in the so-called commission amendments, which, according to Congress leaders, will be used for political agreements that strengthen the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies. and the Senate.

This type of funding will work, according to these leaders, like the extinct rapporteur’s amendments, which were the main bargaining chip in negotiations between the Bolsonaro government and the Legislature. The mechanism was considered unconstitutional by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) at the end of 2022.

Despite the scissors, the total in parliamentary amendments in 2024 will be a record: R$47.5 billion.

There are three types of amendments: individual amendments (which every deputy and senator are entitled to), bench amendments (parliamentarians from each state define priorities for the region) and committee amendments (defined by members of the Congressional bodies).