Brazil senate approves bill limiting public spending

In a second round of vote, the Senate approved 53 to 16 the constitutional amendment bill (PEC, in the original Portuguese acronym) imposing a cap on public spending. There were no abstentions.

Proposed by the government, the bill limits expenditures for the next 20 years starting in 2017, with adjustments possible after its tenth year in effect. The move limits spending to the official inflation from the previous year.

The bill is expected to be turned into law next Thursday (Dec. 15).

Opposition

During the session, the opposition filed a number of appeals in a bid to prevent the legislation from being voted on today. With 46 votes in favor, 12 against, and two abstentions, the requests for calling off, postponing, and suspending the vote were rejected.

The topic sparked controversy between members of the opposition and government allies. Advocates of the bill argued that the 20-year cap is necessary for fiscal adjustment and will not harm social expenditures. The opposition, in turn, believes the change will freeze public investment, aggravate recession, and punish the poor most severely by cutting funds in such areas as education and health care.

Demonstrations

Starting early in the morning today, students, trade union members, civil servants, and street vendors headed for the Esplanade of Ministries to watch the vote. By 11:30 a.m., the number of demonstrators congregated at the Museum of the Republic and surrounding the National Congress building was lower than that of the police patrolling the area on the alert for disturbances.

A group of 26 high-school students from São José dos Pinhais, Paraná state, who oppose the move, talked to Agência Brasil while resting under a tree, before the bill was approved. Aged 15 to 20, they chose not to say their names, and recounted they spent 26 to 30 hours on a bus to come take part in the rallies.

A delegation from the Union of Public Health Care Professionals of Paraná State also came to Brasília for the protest. “We believe that the PEC will represent a setback in social investment, and we want senators to take it out of their agenda. If it's approved today, we'll continue making pressure so that workers, especially those with a lower purchasing power, are not harmed by this initiative,” said Manoel Furlan Barbero, director-general at the organization, before the document was approved at the upper house of Congress.

Weller Pereira Gonçalves, director at the Union of Metal Workers of São José dos Campos, took the road with a group of 40. Most had come to Brasília in November, when the piece of legislation had made it through the first round of voting. “Unfortunately, we think senators will approve the PEC and there's bound to be a shortage of funding for health care and education,” said the unionist, who also criticized the reform in the pension system. “The last administrations have allied with big-time businesspeople to save them by trampling on the rights of workers, who are the ones being forced to pay for the crisis,” he said.

Policing

In an attempt to prevent scenes like the ones witnessed on December 29 from happening, when demonstrators and police clashed, cars and public buildings were damaged, and people injured and arrested, the Secretariat for Public Security and Social Peace (SSP in the original acronym) of the Federal District set up a special scheme for today.

Approximately 500 military agents stood by in the Esplanade of Ministries since the early hours this morning. Despite the small amount of protesters, the officers conducted a few frisk searches and by 10 a.m. had confiscated some 100 masks or objects that could be used by demonstrators to hide their faces.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira