Brazil Senate president urges prompt emergency aid implementation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco has urged the Ministry of Economy to implement the emergency aid as quickly as possible. Government and Congress are discussing an extraordinary credit to pay the benefit after passing the Emergency Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) in the Senate, before the vote in the Chamber.

“This fiscal responsibility demonstration protocol is the role that the Senate has to play and in the meantime we will discuss the timing to implement the emergency aid with the Ministry of Economy, which must be as fast as possible,” said Pacheco in a press conference in the Senate.

Another behind-the-scenes discussion consists in subdividing the PEC in the Chamber and first enacting the provision authorizing a new round of aid.

The decision would defer federal deputies’ approval of the other measures in the PEC, such as the triggers for expenditure restraint. The Ministry of Economy is resisting the plan.

With the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Congress is pressuring the government for a new round of aid as well as to expedite vaccination.

On Tuesday, February 23rd, the Senate president submitted a bill authorizing the government to take responsibility for the immunization’s adverse side effects, a condition imposed in vaccine manufacturer contracts, and to allow the private sector to directly buy doses from laboratories.

“It’s not a message for the Ministry of Health,” said Pacheco, commenting on the bill. He said the proposal has been discussed together with Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello. The Senate president declared to be fully confident that the federal government will vaccinate the Brazilian population against covid-19.