Brazilian Senate Currently Ponders Over 300 Amendments to Social Welfare Reform

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Senate Social Welfare reform rapporteur, Tasso Jereissati, will be presenting next Wednesday, September 4th, the additional opinion of the Chamber’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ).

During these two days, the senator is expected to focus on the examination of over 200 amendments – suggested changes to the text – which are yet to receive an opinion.

By 2 PM yesterday, September 2nd, 378 amendments had been presented. However, more than half of these still depend on Tasso’s review. The rapporteur’s work may greatly increase, since amendments may be presented until the end of discussions of the matter in the committee.

Simone Tebet, president of the CCJ, is prepared for a long meeting on Wednesday. In addition to complementing Tasso’s vote, on the same day, the so-called separate votes for the proposals will be read.

Separate voting is an alternative vote and occurs when a legislator differs from the opinion given by the rapporteur on the matter, which is unlikely to be the case.

Although no separate vote has been officially presented until the closing of this report, the senator said that there will be at least one: “We will set a deadline for reading these votes and then we will open for discussion, close the discussion and proceed to voting,” said Simone Tebet. She said that the readings and debates, which will begin at 10 AM, should be completed by 5 PM.

Voting Procedure

Should the CCJ vote be completed on Wednesday, as scheduled, the text will be sent to the full chamber for consideration. There, the proposal will be voted in two rounds, with five discussion sessions in the first and three in the second. The period begins to be counted from Thursday, September 5th, the first discussion session.

On September 10th, there will be a thematic session on the Social Welfare reform in the Senate’s plenary session. The debate will be attended by experts and by Paulo Guedes, the Minister of Economy.

It is expected that the second round of voting will be completed by October 10th. Should the text be approved as it came from the Chamber of Deputies, and be endorsed by at least 49 of the 81 senators in each round, it will proceed to enactment.

Changes

As already stated by Tasso, the report on the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) will be the same as approved in the Chamber of Deputies, except for two points which were excluded from the text.

One of them included the criterion set forth in the Constitution for receiving the Continuing Benefit Conveyance (BPC): 1/4 of the minimum wage per capita income. The other point excludes the increase in points (sum of minimum age and contribution time) required as a transition rule for the retirement of professionals who are exposed to unsanitary conditions. The exclusions do not imply a new PEC review by the lower house.

On the other hand, the changes Tasso considers most important will be included in a new PEC draft to be processed in parallel to the main text. The measure divides parliamentarians’ opinions. Many believe that the parallel proposal will not be successful.