Parliamentary fronts pressure government for reform and spending cuts

Parliamentary fronts of the National Congress are moving to advance administrative reform and thus contain federal government spending. Shortly after statements by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) that he could fail to meet the fiscal target set for 2023 – in opposition to the balance of public accounts defended by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad -, several sectors once again asked for responsibility with the public spending, and promoted an event to advance the reform.

According to deputy Joaquim Passarinho (PL-PA), who leads the Parliamentary Entrepreneurship Front, the text of the administrative reform that will be discussed should not necessarily be that of the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) already approved by the Chamber of Deputies in last legislature, and sent to Congress by the then Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The aforementioned PEC sought to end privileges for public servants and impose performance rules for civil servants, among other measures.

The Parliamentary Entrepreneurship Front promoted with the Unidos Brasil Institute (IUB) the seminar “Administrative Reform: quality of Government spending in the public sector”. The idea of ​​the event, held this Wednesday (1st) at the Chamber, was precisely to maintain the focus and priority on the need for reform in the public sector. The president of the front said that it is necessary to “keep the issue on the agenda” and show alternatives for more efficient public spending. The event was attended by representatives of business and commerce, among other sectors.

During the seminar, Passarinho emphasized that the topic was raised by the President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), after the parliamentary recess and that it has the support of 23 Congressional fronts that are flying the flag for the improvement of the State. The results of the seminar will be transformed into a document, which must be sent to Lira.

According to the president of the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture, deputy Pedro Lupion (PP-PR), the idea is to involve the Three Powers in the administrative reform. “The reform is for everyone. The super salaries are mainly in the Judiciary, but also in the Legislative and Executive”, he criticized.

He also criticized Lula’s recent statements about public accounts. “We are among those who argue that, before improving the tax system, it is necessary to reduce the State”, stated Lupion.

The president of the Parliamentary Front for Competitive Brazil, deputy Arnaldo Jardim (Cidadania-SP), said that the support of dozens of groups that bring together different sectors of society demonstrates that Congress has a clear and liberal political majority on the subject. He defended that the Chamber should have a leading role in debating the topic, just as happened in the tax reform.

Jardim assessed that the administrative reform aims to benefit the population and that it is not against public servants. “We want it to enhance the employee, but to make the good ones stand out […] We cannot raise so much and have so little investment.” The parliamentarian highlighted that the reform aims to “improve the quality of public spending.”

Fronts signed manifesto in defense of reform after Lira defended spending cuts

The movement to defend administrative reform began after the approval of tax reform by the Chamber of Deputies. At the beginning of July, the president of the House, Arthur Lira, even said, during a meeting with businesspeople in São Paulo, that administrative reform would be the Chamber’s “next move”, ensuring that the proposal approved by a Special Committee is ready for be voted on, and does not “take away the rights of current employees”.

But the Lula administration was not committed to the discussion. At the same time as it announced new public competitions, the PT administration resisted the issue. The government leader in the Chamber, deputy José Guimarães (PT-CE), said that the discussion was not on the radar, and that it was not the time for the debate.

But Lira continued to defend the issue, and several parliamentary fronts decided to take on the movement. In support of the president of the Chamber, they signed a manifesto in defense of administrative reform.

In September, after Lira’s repeated speeches about administrative reform and support from sectors of the economy, the government decided to call a ministerial meeting to evaluate what could be done to rationalize public management. The Ministers of Finance, Fernando Haddad, and Management, Esther Dwek, were among the participants in this agenda.

Haddad spoke to journalists after the meeting and said that projects being discussed in Congress, such as the one that ends super salaries. “We review laws that are in progress, deal with the modernization of the State and could mean important advances,” he said.

The minister has said that it is necessary to seek balance in public accounts, but he is responsible for sending several measures to increase public revenue and thus close the accounts this year. However, he already admits to bringing forward some measures planned for next year as an alternative to the public deficit and the possibility of non-compliance with the fiscal target announced for 2023. Some sectors are already talking about Haddad’s “embarrassment” and “discredit” after Lula’s speeches about failure to meet the target.

Despite this, although Congress talks about reducing spending in the Executive, things change when it comes to cutting the “meat”. Deputy Danilo Fortes (União-CE), rapporteur of the Budgetary Guidelines Law, which should be considered soon by the Joint Budget Committee, has already said that he is studying a way to protect parliamentary amendments from possible cuts promoted by the federal government to meet the zero deficit target. Therefore, the rapporteur is studying the possibility of including a lock in the LDO to prevent all amendments from being subject to contingency.

Another measure, defended by Lira, is the creation of “leadership amendments”, through which party leaders will be able to indicate to the Executive directly where to spend, depending on the size of their benches.

Administrative reform has support in the National Congress, according to survey

For the general director of the Ranking of Politicians, Juan Carlos Arruda, one of the supporters of the seminar that debated administrative reform, this is an essential measure for the State today. “We observed a large salary disparity between the private sector, with an average of R$2,500, and the public sector, with an average of R$9,000. Furthermore, the lack of advanced performance evaluation metrics is also an issue to be addressed”, he pointed out.

He also said that, although the government has taken a position against the proposal, there is room for debate. Furthermore, Haddad and Dweck have already demonstrated their opposition to super salaries, which exceed the constitutional ceiling within the public sector. A project on the subject was approved in the Chamber of Deputies in 2021, but is stalled in the Federal Senate.

According to a survey carried out by Ranking of Politicians, in August this year, the vast majority of parliamentarians, both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, are in favor of implementing a performance assessment for public servants.

In the Chamber of Deputies, 80.2% of parliamentarians expressed support, while 19.8% were opposed. In the Federal Senate, the percentages were 82.6% and 17.4%, respectively.

The survey also shows that the majority of parliamentarians were also in favor of the idea of ​​linking part of public servants’ remuneration to their work performance.

In both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, 73.6% of parliamentarians were in favor, in contrast to 23.6% in the Chamber and 26.1% in the Senate who were against.

“In the National Congress, parliamentarians are attentive to the growth and swelling of the Brazilian State. A survey by the Ranking of Politicians, carried out in August, revealed that the majority of representatives are in favor of approving the administrative reform. This demonstrates awareness of the need to promote changes to make public administration more efficient and balanced”, he highlighted.