Decisive Week for Brazil’s Social Welfare Reform, Investors Anticipate Approval

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, said yesterday, July 8th, that the Chamber would experience a decisive week with the start of voting on the social welfare reform. Approved last week by the special committee, the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC 6/19) will be debated in plenary session today, July 9th.

“We are going to have a decisive week. Our great challenge is the plenary vote. We need to engage an immense number of legislators and deputies, on a fundamental and decisive issue, but we know that it is a work in progress”, said Maia, in a podcast published on his social media.

According to the Chamber’s president, the drafting of the text is due “to the ability to dialogue and the balance of Congress.”

“The building of a victory, should it happen, will be the building of a parliament, not the building of a government. The government helps. The government has, at times, disrupted things, but it has helped in recent weeks. However, it needs to be clear in this process — exactly so that deputies are comfortable voting — that this week’s result will be the result of the effort, work and dedication of each and every deputy,” said Maia.

Negotiations

The voting negotiations on welfare reform continue between Maia and party leaders on Monday, after a weekend of talks in the official residence of the Chamber presidency.

On Saturday, July 6th, Maia met with government leaders and organizers. He said he was optimistic that the welfare reform would be approved “by a good margin of votes.” Maia is working to ensure that the quorum is high and that by the end of the debate, it will be possible to proceed to the voting, between Tuesday, July 9th and Wednesday, July 10th.

On Sunday, July 7th, it was presidential chief of staff Onyx Lorenzoni’s turn to meet with Maia. After the meeting, he was optimistic by the prospect of voting on the first round of the social welfare reform this week in the Chamber’s plenary session.

Deputy Samuel Moreira’s report was approved in the early hours of Friday, July 5th, in the special committee designed to examine the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) submitted by the government.

While investors already cheer the progress of Brazil’s key pension reform bill last week, there’s no certainty that its passage through the rest of the legislative process will prove smooth.

A day after the lower house special committee approved the text, president Jair Bolsonaro said some errors in the bill need correcting. Members of his party, the PSL, are grumbling about the lack of special treatment for police. Meanwhile, time is fast running out for a vote on the bill before the July 18th congressional recess.

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