Brazilian Congress approves permanent “Brazil Aid” with a US$80 floor
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On May 4, the Brazilian Senate approved the provisional measure of the Brazil Aid (Auxílio Brasil), which instituted an extraordinary benefit for families already enrolled in the program to reach the minimum amount of R$400 (US$80) per month. The benefit replaced Family Grant (Bolsa Família).
The vote on the conversion bill was symbolic, without counting individual votes. As it had already passed through the House of Representatives, the proposal will be submitted to sanction.
The Brazil Aid, created by the government last year, was only valid until December 2021, but its term was extended by decree until the end of this year. With the text approved by Congress, it becomes permanent.
The predicted end of the benefit payment led the opposition, both in the House and Senate, to accuse the government of having created an electioneering program.
Also, in the House, the opinion on the provisional measure estimated that the cost of funding the Brazil Aid with a minimum value of R$400 will be R$41 billion per year in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The amount is almost the same as the one foreseen for the Brazil Aid, of R$47.5 billion.
The number of beneficiaries of the Brazil Aid is bigger than the number of jobs with a signed contract (which excludes the public sector) in 12 of the 27 states of the Federation. The data consider the 41 million formal workers who have a signed employment contract. There is, however, a large contingent of informal workers and workers without a signed contract.
INSURANCE TO FISHERMEN
A part of the provisional measure refers to the payment of “Seguro-defeso”, the unemployment insurance for fishermen when their family is a beneficiary of the Brazil Aid.
With the device, the benefits are suspended during the payments of the insurance-defeso.
In addition, the text limits to 30% the discounts on the Brazil Aid payments in cases of undue receipt of the insurance-defeso in the past.
“Without a ceiling, these discounts were preventing part of the population from benefiting from the Brazil Aid,” writes the project’s rapporteur in the Senate, Roberto Rocha (PTB-MA), in his opinion.
With information from Poder360
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