Government wants exceptional measure to speed up sending resources to RS

Days after guaranteeing that there will be no shortage of money to repair the damage that the rains have been causing to Rio Grande do Sul, the chief minister of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Paulo Pimenta, highlighted the need for the National Congress to approve legal measures to accelerate the transfer of financial resources to the state.

“The announcement of the release of resources is important, but more important than that is that the money reaches the end quickly. Not next week, but now. The mayors need money now”, said Pimenta during a meeting of the federal and Rio Grande do Sul benches with federal government ministers – an event that took place this Monday morning (6), at the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul.

Paulo Pimenta at a Legislative Assembly meeting. Photograph: Lucas Leffa/Secom

Highlighting the “complexity” of the situation, which he once again compared to a “war” scenario, Pimenta highlighted that “bureaucracy” could significantly delay the delivery of financial resources, preventing city halls from meeting the immediate needs of the population.

The minister also defended the relaxation of rules that deal with public spending. According to him, in an exceptional situation, of public calamity, it is necessary to allow public managers, especially mayors, to spend according to urgency.

“We need to create all the legal conditions for mayors to have security and be able to spend [com segurança jurídica]. Release the money in the heat of emotion, and then the city halls will be inspected by the control bodies, according to the cold letter of the law”, proposed Pimenta, remembering that the legality of the flexibility of the laws that deal with the management of public accounts was approved by the plenary of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) during the covid-19 pandemic.

“We need to approve a legislative measure that gives us the exceptional ability to act as was done during the pandemic. I don’t know if exactly in the same terms, but we need an exceptional legislative measure for parliamentary amendments to arrive faster, for the money to arrive at city hall immediately”, added the minister, emphasizing that the federal government will strive to mobilize Congress so that a legal measure will be approved in the coming days.

“I think the most important thing in politics is for us to be able to approve a legislative measure this week. We ask for support from the bench [federal estadual] and the government [gaúcho] to create the political conditions so that we can approve a measure by Wednesday”, concluded Pimenta.

The minister highlighted that the special secretary for Federative Affairs of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations (SRI), André Ceciliano, will take care of issues related to the release of the amendments. “His participation is very important, as he is here representing Minister Alexandre Padilha. Delegate to deal with the entire issue regarding the release of amendments, he, perhaps, is one of the most important people at this meeting.”

Paulo Pimenta defends legislative measure. Photograph: Lucas Leffa/Secom

Yesterday (5), when accompanying President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and ministers on a visit to Rio Grande do Sul, the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, stated that they will work for the National Congress to prepare a package of actions to reduce bureaucracy and expand financial aid to the state.

“We have the responsibility to discuss, this week, a path so that we can develop a completely extraordinary measure,” said Lira.

“There are no limitations, there are no legal restrictions of ordinary times. There is a need to remove bureaucracy, obstacles and limitations from the shelf and table so that Rio Grande do Sul lacks nothing for its reconstruction. We did this during the pandemic with great pride within the scope of the National Congress with a proposed amendment to the constitution that we called the PEC of War, with numerous exceptional legislative measures”, highlighted Pacheco.

This morning, Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE) filed, in the Senate, a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that provides ways to accelerate the transfer of financial resources to states affected by public calamities resulting from adverse weather conditions.

“PEC 15/2024, authored by us, provides for a kind of “war budget” to deal with public environmental calamities, such as the one that hit Rio Grande do Sul. The idea is that this extraordinary regime guarantees efficiency and speed in responses to crisis situations”, wrote Vieira on social media, justifying the measure. “With the frequent environmental emergencies that have plagued the country in recent years, it is essential to have agile and effective mechanisms to deal with these situations.”