CCJ rejects Bolsonaro's request that could postpone the vote on the transition amendment.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) rejected on Tuesday a request for a public hearing that could have postponed the vote on the transition amendment to next week in the committee, securing the first victory for the government-elect in Parliament.

Presented by the current government leader, Senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), the request was rejected by the committee by a vote of 16 to 10, a relatively comfortable margin given the composition of the CCJ.

There is still a long road and more difficult battles to be fought by the PEC in Congress. After passing through the CCJ (Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship), it will still have to obtain the favorable vote of at least three-fifths of the Senate plenary – the equivalent of 49 votes – in two rounds of voting. And then, in the Chamber of Deputies, despite the prospect of having its processing accelerated, it will also need to receive the approval of at least three-fifths of the deputies – 308 votes – in two rounds of deliberation.

Senators who support President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) argued that there is urgency and hunger among beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família program. The proposed constitutional amendment (PEC) foresees an expansion of the spending cap by 175 billion reais for Bolsa Família payments of 600 reais, among other programs.

But in an attempt to secure an agreement that guarantees the approval of the proposal, Senator Jaques Wagner (PT-BA) announced that the elected government and Lula himself agree with the suggestion --verbalized by Senator Fernando Bezerra Coelho (MDB-PE)-- to reduce the expansion of the spending cap in the transition PEC by 30 billion reais.

"We agreed on a reduction of 30 billion... If Your Excellencies ask me, it is evident that the new team would prefer that the reduction not be 30, but 20, and I am here already assuming this responsibility, in an attempt to reach an agreement to accept what was proposed of 30 billion," Wagner told his colleagues.

STRATEGY

As a way to circumvent any attempt by Bolsonaro-aligned senators to delay the vote on the PEC in the CCJ, allies of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are expected to request a preventive review of the rapporteur's opinion on the Transition PEC, Alexandre Silveira (PSD-MG), this Tuesday.

A voting guidelines document from the Workers' Party caucus, obtained by Reuters, indicates that the intention is to request a review of the proposed constitutional amendment. According to a source, the intention is for the review period to be up to 24 hours, which would allow the amendment to be voted on in committee on Wednesday morning and in the Senate plenary in the afternoon, as Lula's allies have been advocating.