The House of Representatives votes today on state and municipal debts.

Iolando Lourenço
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia - The Chamber of Deputies postponed until today (23), at 10 am, the session intended for the discussion and voting of the Executive's supplementary bill, which deals with the renegotiation of the debts of states and municipalities. The bill changes the correction index of the debts of these federated entities with the Union to reduce the accumulated amount.

For several hours, the leader of the DEM party, Representative Ronaldo Caiado (GO), obstructed the sessions intended for the consideration of the bill, arguing that it was necessary to include debts from other states that were not covered by the Executive's bill. Caiado presented several requests to postpone the vote, arguing that extensive negotiation was needed before the proposal could be voted on.

Other parties also joined the obstruction led by the DEM leader. This made it difficult to reach a quorum to deliberate on the proposal. Because of this and the lack of agreement, the PT leader, Deputy José Guimarães (CE), proposed closing the session and postponing the vote until Wednesday. "We will postpone the session and continue negotiations so we can vote," he said.

Leaders from other parties supported Guimarães' proposal, and as a result, the Speaker of the House, Representative Henrique Eduardo Alves (PMDB-RN), adjourned the session and called for another one tomorrow. Alves said that the first session will include the debt bill as the sole item on the agenda. The second session will vote on the bill concerning the minimum wage for health workers, and a third session will address the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC).