Welfare Vote: Rate of Appropriations Paid to Brazilian Deputies Reaches Record Level

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Money rules and that is truer in today’s Brazil than ever before. Despite the critical discourse of what he terms the “old policy,” president Jair Bolsonaro repeated a common practice of his predecessors in their relationship with Congress and released a record amount of parliamentary appropriations riders on the eve of the Social Welfare reform vote in the Chamber of Deputies, approved last Wednesday, July 10th, with 379 votes in favor.

There were R$2.7 billion (US$372 million) pledged in just ten days, R$1.5 billion of which were individual riders presented by 550 deputies and former federal deputies.

This sum represents a daily average of R$268 million in disbursements in July, more than double the average recorded in May 2016 — R$123 million — when the most substantial amount of funds was pledged in a single month  – R$3.8 billion — since the execution of the appropriation riders by the government became mandatory in 2015.

On that occasion, both President Dilma Rousseff, who was being removed from office by the Senate, and former president Michel Temer, who was taking command of the country, used the congressional appropriations riders as an instrument of political bargaining, in search for votes against and in favor of impeachment.

Appropriations riders are spending authorizations included in the federal budget by individual deputies and senators, who usually privilege their own electoral strongholds through transfers of funds to local works or programs.

The ceiling is equivalent to 1.2 percent of net current revenue — R$13.7 billion this year — half of which should be allocated to health. Although disbursement is obligatory, the flow of funds is controlled by the administration.

By June, Bolsonaro had disbursed only 13 percent of the total projected funds. The low execution of transfers was the cause for repeated complaints from members of the “Centrão” congressional voting bloc, as well as the governing bloc parties.

This percentage more than doubled with a record release at the beginning of July, reaching 32.5 percent, according to data from Siga Brasil, a parliamentary appropriations execution panel controlled by the Senate.

The practice is similar to that adopted by predecessors in crucial votes.

The figures show that Bolsonaro’s method adopted on the eve of approval of the Social Welfare reform in the chamber is the same as the one taken by his predecessors in crucial votes in Congress.

“All presidents, to a greater or lesser extent, used the enactment of appropriations riders to gain support. Although many people think that this is not republican, there is nothing illegal. The point is that Bolsonaro established himself as the “new” one, condemning it as the practice of the old policy. However, speaking is one thing, and governing is another. He ended up throwing the stone up high without considering that his roof is made of glass,” said political scientist Rodrigo Prando.

Bolsonaro minimized criticism of the appropriations by claiming that, as they are legally binding, the release of funds does not depend on his will. “Everything that is released is in the budget. Nothing was fabricated. There’ s nothing concealed, no hidden conversation anywhere. It’s all done in the light of legislation,” he said the day after the reform was approved.

Allied deputies of the Jair Bolsonaro government and Centrão parties who voted in favor of the social welfare reform lead the ranking of deputies who had more amendments released this year, according to official data from the portal Siga Brasil, controlled by the Senate.

Of the R$4.5 billion in appropriations riders released by the Bolsonaro government by Friday, July 12th, R$3 billion refer to individual appropriations for individual deputies (66 percent), R$ 1 billion are amendments for voting blocs and R$ 479 million for legislators.

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