Tebet: cut to amendments was provisional and can be reviewed – 01/25/2024 – Power

The Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet (MDB), stated this Thursday (25) that the cut in the Budget of R$ 5.6 billion applied to the commission amendments, which has been causing negative reactions from the National Congress, was made ” provisionally” and said they may be revised.

“We had to make vetoes and vetoes are not simple. I cannot take a part of the action or a part of the program and cut it. Either I cut the entire program, or I cannot cut it”, stated the minister.

“As I don’t know the National Congress agreements that were made, what they really insist on […]we made a first, provisionally, a first veto on the programming lines actions and we can make any changes in February, as we have always done at the right time”, he added.

The statement came after an event to present the Report “Transversal Environmental Agenda PPA 2024-2027”, at the headquarters of Banco do Brasil, in Brasília.

“We still have the issue of the provisional tax relief measure. Are we going to reach a middle ground? Are we going to reach a consensus? How is it, how much will it be worth for 2024, how much will it be worth for 2025? So only after Carnival I believe that we will have a sign of what we are talking about in terms of revenue estimates for the year 24. Therefore, in the report, which we need to present in the second half of March, 20, 21, 22, the first bimonthly report, we will have clarity on what we can do”, stated the minister.

The minister was asked by journalists where it would be possible to obtain the resources to replace the amount of committee amendments, whose veto ended up causing wear and tear for the government in the National Congress. Tebet did not specify how this replacement could be done. She pointed out that only after Carnival will there be a real x-ray of the recipes.

This Monday (22), the president sanctioned the 2024 Budget with a billion-dollar veto on parliamentary amendments — which are the main mechanism by which deputies and senators allocate resources to their electoral strongholds.

The government promised parliamentarians to present a plan in February to reverse the budget cut in committee amendments. The objective of Palácio do Planalto is to try to avoid a new crisis with the National Congress when legislative work resumes.