Brazil’s pension reform brought to lower house floor

A plenary session at the Brazilian lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is set to start discussing the constitutional amendment bill on the overhaul in the country’s pension system today (Jul 9). Approved on Friday (5) by a special committee after 16 hours of debate, the proposal must garner the favorable votes of 308 lawmakers in two rounds before being submitted to the Senate. The Brazilian lower house is made up of 513 representatives, or federal deputies.

The reform bill was received by Congress on February 20, 2019. The government views the revamp as key to balancing public accounts and redirecting funds form retirees to areas like education, health care, and public security.

Lower house

After the green light from the special committee, talks ahead of the vote have grown intense. Lower house speaker Rodrigo Maia has met with party leaders after a weekend of conversations at his residence. A meeting with pro-government party leaders is also slated to take place on Tuesday.

Maia expressed optimism towards the approval of the piece of legislation, and said the text to be considered from now on is the result of dialog and balance in Congress.

“We’re going through a decisive week. Our big challenge is the floor vote. We had to mobilize a huge number of deputies for a matter that’s crucial and decisive, but we know it was a lot before we could get where we are now,” Maia said in a podcast published on his social media.

On Sunday (7), after a meeting with the house speaker, the president’s Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni also seemed optimistic. The bill is likely to get 330 favorable votes, he said.

“We’ve done a rough estimate of 330, or even more and we’re keeping down to earth. It’s a margin we believe may be possible,” he said.

If the proposal reaches the Senate, it must be considered in two hearings and be approved by 49 out of a total of 81 senators.

Priorities

Four priorities shape the new pension system: the creation of new rules for retirement, anti-fraud measures, debt collection, and redressing inequalities.

New rules

The new system includes a minimum retiring age of 62 for women and 65 for men, plus a required 20-year period of social contribution.

Fraud

Before submitting the bill to Congress, President Jair Bolsonaro signed provisional injunction 871, dated January 18, 2019, to fight fraud against Brazil’s social security institute INSS. The document is currently in effect and sets new norms for pensions in case of death, allowances for tax-paying family members of inmates, and rural retirement.

Debt collection

Another bill sent to Congress to help with the pension reform aims to make debt collection quicker and more efficient.

Redressing inequalities

The new pension system seeks to charge more from those with higher income, including public servants. Those who make more money will pay more.