Brazilian Congress delays analysis of vetoes until next week

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), had announced the session at the beginning of April, but since then, the meeting of parliamentarians hasn't even been scheduled in the system. Last week, the senator once again said that Congress would meet on the 18th of this month, but the date never appeared on the agenda.

If the vetoes were analysed on the 18th, the government would lose out. This is because the veto on the R$5.6 billion amendments doesn't have enough votes to be upheld and, by overturning it, Congress would cause a hole in the public accounts, since Lula has nowhere to get the money from and would end up taking it out of the ministries' budgets. 

With the postponement, the government hopes that the Senate will approve the resumption of the collection of the Compulsory Insurance for Personal Injury by Land Vehicles (DPVAT). The text was approved on Tuesday (9 April) by the Chamber of Deputies and has reached the upper house as a matter of urgency.

If approved by the Senate, the Dpvat represents an increase in federal revenue and, in the text that passed through the House of Representatives, MPs approved a change to the fiscal framework that allows the government to anticipate around R$15 billion in expenses. Of this amount, around 50 per cent could be used to pay for amendments.

Senators are expected to approve Bill 233/23 before the 25th. This way, Lula will be able to use part of the R$15 billion to fulfil the congressmen's demands, without there being a hole in the ministries' budgets. In addition, with the postponement, there is a possibility that the presidential veto on the part of the bill that prohibits prison visits to family members on national holidays will be included on the agenda.