Lula’s Team Files Spending Breach Bill as Brazil Talks Loom

  • President-elect’s first bill seeks to guarantee extra spending
  • Proposal requires ample consensus in congress before Dec. 22

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Photographer: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Brazil’s incoming government is seeking to exempt the equivalent of 175 billion reais ($32.6 billion) per year from the country’s fiscal cap to spend it on social programs through 2026, according to a constitutional reform proposal filed in congress late Monday.

The bill, formally introduced by Senator Marcelo Castro, is the opening salvo in what’s expected to be a long political debate about how much the government that takes over on Jan. 1 will get to spend to fulfill its campaign pledges.