Federal government anticipates payment of parliamentary amendments for RS

The federal government decided to bring forward the release of R$580 million in individual parliamentary amendments that allocate resources to 448 cities in Rio Grande do Sul, a state that has experienced the worst climate tragedy since last week. Of the total, R$538 million must be allocated to public health actions.

The measure was announced during a meeting between federal and state deputies from Rio Grande do Sul and members of the federal government team, which took place at the state Legislative Assembly, this Monday morning (6).

During the meeting, the Special Secretary for Federative Affairs of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations (SRI), André Ceciliano, guaranteed that the R$580 million will begin to be released today. And that the federal government has plans to release more amendment resources to the state in the coming days.

“Since Friday [3]we are discussing with the Treasury the possibility of releasing resources from special amendments for the municipalities and the state”, commented Ceciliano, referring to the resource allocation modality created from Constitutional Amendment 105/2019.

According to Ceciliano, the government is considering releasing another R$448 million soon through special amendments. As Constitutional Amendment 105/2019 establishes, the amount can be transferred directly to the benefiting federation unit, in this case, Rio Grande do Sul, but at least 70% of the amount transferred must be invested in so-called capital expenses, that is, in expenses that directly contribute to the formation or acquisition of new goods or services – the construction of a health unit, for example.

“The Institutional Relations Secretariat is already talking to the minister [da Fazenda, Fernando Haddad] and with the Civil House about the possibility of making these special amendments more flexible”, said Ceciliano, and added: “there is no point in having resources, but having to invest them when, now, we need funding”. The secretary stressed the need for resources for the recovery and maintenance of pre-existing public services.

“The secretariat is producing a document to be [analisado] tomorrow, at CMO [Comissão Mista de Planos, Orçamentos Públicos e Fiscalização, do Congresso Nacional]and which, according to an agreement with the presidents of the Chamber and the Senate, will possibly go to a vote on Wednesday [8]changing [o trecho da LDO [Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentárias] that prohibits payment [das emendas especiais] for a single federation unit. So, these votes in the CMO and Congress will be for [os parlamentares] release an exception for the R$448 million”, concludes the secretary.

At the same meeting, the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, also mentioned the possibility of the federal government releasing another R$83 million in bench amendments for Health, this week. “There are these amendments, in the range of R$83 million, which will be committed today and which we expect to pay by Wednesday.”

Report card

The number of confirmed deaths resulting from the heavy rains that hit Rio Grande do Sul since last week rose to 83. The data appears in the state Civil Defense bulletin updated at 9am this Monday (6). Across the state, 111 people are missing.

In total, 364 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul were affected by the storms, with more than 850.4 thousand people affected. The state has 21,957 homeless people. .