Less than a month before the end-of-year break, Congress may have an intense voting schedule next week. Next Thursday, there will be a joint session in Congress to vote on President Lula’s veto of the bill that establishes the so-called time frame limitation thesis to demarcate Indigenous land, despite the Supreme Court’s decision on the proposal’s unconstitutionality.
Besides, crucial agendas for the government's economic priorities must be voted on in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, such as the bill that regulates sports betting, the bill that restricts the Supreme Court’s actions and the Multi-Year Plan (Plano Plurianual, in Portuguese), which presents budget guidelines to the government for the period 2024-2027.
The Congress agenda was announced on Thursday (16) by its president, Rodrigo Pacheco. According to him, the expectation is to vote on Tuesday (21) in the Senate plenary on the bill that deals with the range of actions of Supreme Court ministers and the bill that regulates sports betting. The first bill may add more tension between Congress and the Supreme Court, since it prevents ministers from making decisions alone (the so-called monocratic decisions) on the suspension of laws or acts by the presidency, Senate and Chamber of Deputy.
The bill also establishes a period of six months, extendable for another four, in cases of requests for review, that is, when a minister requests to suspend a trial in order to analyze the case in detail.
Essential bill to the fiscal target
The bill that provides for the regularization of sports betting, also included in Tuesday's Senate agenda, is considered essential for the government's efforts to guarantee next year’s fiscal target, which is a zero deficit. The target was maintained in the text of the 2024 Budget Guidelines Bill (PLDO, in Portuguese) even after President Lula implied that it would be difficult to meet the target next year.
In this scenario, the government continues to invest in measures to increase revenue and guarantee resources for the execution of government programs and actions next year. By regulating sports betting, which currently operates without any specific law in the country, the government will be able to charge taxes on the sport, which has grown a lot in recent years, and is expected to raise around R$2 billion in 2024 and R$12 billion in the next years.
PPA
Last week in the Chamber of Deputies, Deputy Bohn Gass (Workers’ Party – Rio Grande do Sul state) presented his preliminary report to the Multiannual Plan for 2024-2027, also known as PPA. It works as medium-term planning to guide the preparation of annual budgets. With this report, parliamentarians will analyze the issue and put it to a vote next week, according to the Chamber of Deputies.
In the text of the bill sent to the Executive branch, governmental actions are included in 88 programs with global values, goals and indicators. The estimated value of these programs over the next four years is 13.3 trillion reais.
It also lists 35 strategic goals with 72 national key indicators. The text also mentions six priority themes such as the fight against hunger and five transversal agendas, that is, which must be the main priority for all ministries. An example of this is the topic of children and adolescents.
