Senate President Summons Session That Could Grant Congress Control Over R$42 Billion

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senate President Davi Alcolumbre has called a Congressional joint session for next Tuesday, March 3rd, at 2 PM, to vote on presidential vetoes. Among them, number 52, President Jair Bolsonaro’s partial veto of the bill that includes the so-called Appropriations Budget in the Budget Guidelines Act (LDO).

As O Estado de S. Paulo reported earlier this month, party leaders were willing to overturn Bolsonaro’s vetoes on the bill which requires the government to pay for all legislative amendments to the appropriations budget this year.

According to the text approved late last year, Congress would have control of R$46 billion in the budget. The bill also provided for stricter rules for payments, such as a 90-day deadline in the case of rapporteur’s amendments and penalties for the government in the event of non-compliance.

Following an agreement brokered by the Minister of the Secretariat of Government, Luiz Eduardo Ramos, legislators yielded and agreed to return R$11 billion to the Executive’s control.

Leaders of Congress also agreed to leave the 90-day deadline and the provision of penalties out of the law.

Nonetheless, the agreement was criticized internally by government members. The crisis erupted when Minister Augusto Heleno, of the Institutional Security Cabinet, accused the Legislative of “blackmailing” the government for funds.

The newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported that in a meeting with Bolsonaro he even spoke of a “silent coup”.

In closed meetings, Bolsonaro said he would not be a “hostage of Congress”, nor a “Queen of England”, with no power to execute the Budget.

Unhappy with the terms of the agreement, the president ordered a new round of negotiations and threatened to judicialize the issue if his vetoes were overturned.

‘Vem pra Rua’ (Come to the Street)

Despite not having joined the protests in defense of the government and against the National Congress and Judiciary scheduled for March 15th, the ‘Vem Pra Rua’ movement has been working to preserve the presidential veto on the Appropriations Budget. The group, which gained projection with the impeachment of ex-President Dilma Rousseff, launched the website veto52.com.br to pressure legislators to uphold Jair Bolsonaro’s veto.

“Congress cannot take control of R$30 billion in the budget. Don’t be an idiot. Log in,” the group says on social media posts.

On the website, the movement states its intention to “demand that all legislators uphold veto 52” and lists favorable, opposed and undecided legislators and senators regarding the veto.

The website provides the contact details of legislators, as well as the inquiries and lawsuits concerning politicians currently underway in the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

It further displays a graph showing the financial progress of each legislator and lists, month by month, the amount used from the congressional quota by members of Congress.