Proposal on resources for welfare programs sent to Senate

Budget rapporteur in the National Congress Senator Marcelo Castro said on Monday (Nov. 28), he has filed the Proposal on Transition Constitution Amendment. The text proposes the exclusion of Brazil Aid - social welfare program – (Auxílio Brasil), which should be renamed Family Allowance (Bolsa Família), from the spending ceiling rule for the coming years.

The proposal presented by the senator is a way to enable the maintenance of the minimum amount of BRL 600 for the income transfer program, besides instituting an additional amount of BRL 150 per child under 6 years old of each beneficiary. This is one of the main campaign commitments of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers` Party - PT).

In effect since 2017, the constitutional rule of the spending ceiling limits the increase of public spending (except the payment of interest on public debt) to the growth of inflation in the previous year. To begin processing, the text still needs to be signed by at least 27 senators, which should occur later this week.

Castro said the ideal is that the proposal is approved until December 10, since on December 16 he must present his final report on the Budget for 2023, which must be approved before the end of the year. The proposal needs to pass in two rounds - in the Senate and in the House of Representatives - to be approved.

Based on calculations of the values foreseen in the 2023 Budget Bill, just maintaining the Family Allowance program at BRL 600 would have a total cost of up to BRL 175 billion.