Senate postpones vote on bill that guarantees basic income for Brazilians in situations of social vulnerability during the coronavirus pandemic.
The vote on the bill that guarantees the Emergency Basic Citizen Income for people in situations of greater vulnerability due to the coronavirus pandemic that has been growing in Brazil has been postponed until tomorrow, April 1st. The decision to move the vote forward was made after a virtual meeting of party leaders.
This Tuesday, the remote deliberative session will also vote on four other projects that bring measures to combat Covid-19.
The bill on the exemption from justification for absence for quarantine will be voted on; the bill on telemedicine; the bill on financial aid to hospitals; and the bill that suspends for 120 days the mandatory maintenance of quantitative and qualitative targets established by health service providers within the scope of the Unified Health System (SUS).
Basic Income Project
The basic income bill determines that Bolsa Família program beneficiaries will receive an extra special benefit per person. It will be a minimum of R$1,400.00 per month. It will last for six months and can be extended while the pandemic lasts. The bill is the only item on the agenda for the remote deliberative session on Tuesday afternoon.
People who do not participate in Bolsa Família will also have access to the benefit. They just need to be listed in the Single Registry of Social Programs (CadÚnico). According to the project, these people and all their dependents will also be able to receive the benefit. It will be in the same amount and will have the same duration, as long as they have a per capita income lower than three minimum wages.
The maximum amount to be received per family will be R$1,500.00, an amount that may be increased by the Executive Branch. Beneficiaries will receive the amounts in an account registered with Caixa Econômica Federal. To cover the benefit, the project authorizes the Executive Branch to open an extraordinary credit line during the period of public calamity.
The project establishes that some concessions that are conditions provided for in the Bolsa Família Law will be suspended during the pandemic period, such as the enrollment and maintenance of children and adolescents in school and the vaccination of children up to seven years old.