Brazilian Senator Proposes Extension of Emergency Aid to March 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senator Alessandro Vieira (Cidadania- Citizenship party) yesterday submitted a proposal to extend the emergency aid, scheduled to end this year, and to prolong the state of calamity until March next year.

“Due to the federal government’s inertia, it is impossible to get a nationwide vaccination program running before March. A minimum of social stability must be guaranteed until then. That’s why I have submitted PL 5495, which extends the emergency aid and the state of calamity until March 31st,” Vieira argued on his Twitter.

In the first months of the pandemic, the government funded a monthly grant of R$600 for the vulnerable. The amount was reduced to R$300 after September. President Jair Bolsonaro has often publicly alerted to the impact of the aid on Brazilian public accounts and that one day this assistance will have to end.

In November, when he was asked by one of his supporters at the Planalto Palace in Brasília, Bolsonaro did not rule out yet another extension of the emergency aid.

“Ask the virus… We prepare for everything, but we have to wait for certain things to happen… we hope it won’t be necessary,” said the President in an edited video published on social media. “I hope it won’t be necessary because it’s a sign that the economy is going to pick up and we won’t have new confinements in Brazil,” he added.

In an interview with UOL last week, Chamber of Deputies president Rodrigo Maia (DEM – Democratas) said the extension of the social program “is the government’s problem, not the Chamber of Deputies”, which is “providing the government with all the tools to address this year.” “Whatever there was to spend in an emergency, has been spent,” he stressed.

Federal Deputy Ricardo Barros (PP – Progressives), government leader in the Chamber, yesterday ruled out a renewal of the emergency aid because, “in theory,” the government is not going to extend the “war budget” that suspended the enforcement of fiscal rules.

“In theory, there will be no extension of the war budget. If there is no extension, there is no chance of renewing the emergency aid,” the deputy commented at an online Eurasia event. He added that there is no room in the budget to accommodate the continuation of the aid.

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