Senate advances with bomb agendas while 6×1 continues with an indefinite calendar

While the proposal that foresees the end of the 6×1 scale remains without a forecast for analysis, the Senate has advanced a series of measures that increase public spending. In a single day, parliamentarians approved, throughout this Wednesday (10), the renegotiation of rural producers' debts, raised the salary minimum for doctors and dental surgeons and relaxed the retirement rules for community health and disease control agents.

The most advanced proposal in Congress is the bill that deals with the renegotiation of rural debts. The text creates a special line of financing to renegotiate debts of rural producers affected by adverse weather events and economic difficulties. As the proposal underwent changes in the Senate, the text will return to the Chamber of Deputies before being sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The text is considered a "bomb agenda", as it causes a strong negative impact on public accounts. According to preliminary estimates from the government's economic team, the financial cost to the National Treasury could reach R$140 billion in the coming years.

On another front, the Senate's CAS (Social Affairs Committee) approved a project that increases the national salary minimum for doctors and dental surgeons from R$3,636 to R$13,662, for a 20-hour work week. Now, the text goes straight to the Chamber of Deputies for analysis, if there is no appeal for a vote in the Senate plenary.

Finally, the Senate's CCJ (Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship) gave approval to the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that guarantees special retirement for health and disease control agents who are public servants. It will now go to the plenary for analysis.

According to the text, the retirement age will be 57 years for women and 60 years for men, for those who have 25 years of contribution and activity. The proposal, however, creates transition rules until 2041 for those who entered the activity until the future enactment of the change.

The CNM (National Confederation of Municipalities) argues that there are around 400 thousand health agents and the fight against endemic diseases in the country. According to the entity, there could be an impact of R$70 billion on municipal finances with this measure. The government itself has already said that it fears the impact on public accounts.

While being processed in the Chamber, the impact of the proposal in favor of health agents was estimated by the rapporteur, deputy Antonio Brito (PSD-BA), at R$5.5 billion by 2030. The Ministry of Social Security states that this value could be much higher if the Union, states and municipalities are considered, approaching R$99 billion.

6×1 remains undefined
While agendas with fiscal impact gain space in the Senate, the president of the House, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), keeps the timeline for processing the PEC regarding the end of the 6×1 scale undefined.

The senator has not yet sent the text to the CCJ and signaled that he would only discuss the proposal after a meeting of leaders to reach an agreement on the report of the proposal. This meeting, however, has not yet been scheduled.

The government's base fears that the process will be blocked and will depend on "concessions" to move forward. Left-wing senators left this Wednesday's plenary session (10) saying they would try to talk to the president of the Upper House to unlock the PEC. The SRI (Institutional Relations Secretariat) minister himself, José Guimarães, responsible for political coordination between the Executive and Legislative branches, met with Alcolumbre last Tuesday (9). The meeting, however, ended without an official announcement about the schedule.

Members of the center defend the advancement of the proposal and understand that pressure from the government, this time, could have an effect, as 2/3 of congressmen will seek re-election and see an important electoral flag on the agenda.

The opposition will try to hold back the text and prevent the agenda from moving forward in the first half of the year. The strategy will be to use the coordination of businesspeople with Alcolumbre, which began three weeks ago.

On Tuesday, entities from different sectors published an open letter to senators asking for the approval of the alternative PEC on the reduction of working hours, presented by the opposition.

The document is signed by CNA (National Confederation of Agriculture), CNC (National Confederation of Commerce), CNI (National Confederation of Industry), CNT (National Confederation of Transport), FIESP (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo) and other associations.

The entities argue that the alternative text will allow workers to have more flexibility. The proposal amends the Federal Constitution to allow definitions of working hours and schedule to be established through an individual agreement between employee and employer, collective agreement or "free direct contractual agreement".

End of scale 6x1: PEC stops the Chamber's agenda and puts pressure on Hugo Motta | H TIME

Source: CNN