Nikolas Ferreira files PEC to block amendments distributed by Lula

Federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) filed a Proposal for an Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) to bar the distribution of budget amendments to parliamentarians during weeks with important votes in the National Congress.

He pointed out that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) released R$ 11.8 billion in amendments to influence the vote in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in July alone.

A People’s Gazette, Nikolas Ferreira stated that the PEC aims to make the way President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has distributed the amendments a crime of fiscal responsibility.

“We filed this PEC to prevent parliamentary amendments from becoming a shady means of buying votes from the Executive to the Legislative. [A PEC] makes it a crime of fiscal responsibility to use this parliamentary amendment with this misuse of purpose”, said the PL deputy.

The proposal needs 171 signatures from the deputies so that it can start to be processed. “I am articulating with other parliamentarians. Now I’m after collecting the 171 signatures so that we can end these PIX amendments, this monthly allowance 2.0”, he highlighted.

If that happens, then the PEC will go through the Chamber committees and may, in the future, be analyzed by the plenary – if it is included in the agenda by Arthur Lira (PP-AL). PECs need 3/5 votes from parliamentarians, in two shifts, to be approved. If this stage is passed, the PEC will be sent to the Senate for deliberation.

Lula was the one who released the most amendments in a month

According to a survey carried out by Associação Contas Abertas, with data from Siga Brasil, Lula was the one who released the most parliamentary amendments in a single month in history: R$ 11.8 billion were allocated in July to states and municipalities by indication of parliamentarians.

By determination of the Federal Constitution, the government is obliged to allocate the resources indicated by deputies and senators to the federative entities. However, the choice of the moment for this release is at the discretion of the Executive.

The amendment money is not earmarked for a specific expense and there is no oversight or accountability for the use of the resource. In practice, it is not known where the resources for most of the amendments released by the Federal Executive will be spent.

The amount released last month coincides with important votes for the Planalto Palace, such as the vote on tax reform in the Chamber. In the week alone in which the project was voted on, in early July, Lula released R$7.4 billion in amendments.

Until last Friday (18), R$ 1.1 billion had been invested in 1,245 amendments, of which 1,085 were individual. Still according to the Associação Contas Abertas, in the eight months of 2023, Lula has already disbursed R$ 20 billion to the Legislative.

The expectation is that new releases will occur, as the government wants to guarantee support for MP approval of the Minimum Wage.

Lula fails to deliver what he promised in the campaign

During the election campaign, Lula attacked the secret budget and the lack of transparency in the channeling of money to parliamentarians, even accusing former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) of being to blame for the situation.

After being elected, he changed his tune and said that amendments should not be “secret”. “Everyone knows what I think about the parliamentary amendment. I was a constituent deputy and I always thought the deputy’s amendment is important, what doesn’t need to be secret”, he said in December, during a press conference in which he announced the prime ministers who would occupy positions in his government.