Minister of Cities favors mayors from the PSDB party.

247 - During Bruno Araújo's (PE) tenure as Minister of Cities, PSDB-led municipalities have received the most funding from the ministry through agreements for public works. By the end of this year, it is projected that mayors from the party will have signed partnerships with the ministry totaling over R$ 158 million. This figure surpasses the share allocated to the PMDB, Michel Temer's party, which governs the largest number of municipalities in the country, according to estimates of resource transfers.

The PSDB's privileged access to federal resources is one of the reasons why some party members advocate prolonging the party's presence in the Temer government as much as possible. This issue was central to internal debates at the height of the PSDB's impasse regarding whether to remain in the allied base or abandon its ministerial positions.

The issue is treated casually among members of the PSDB party. In one of the meetings of the PSDB leadership in São Paulo, state representative Barros Munhoz cited the transfers as an argument for maintaining the party's alliance with the government.

"This decision to leave the government is, at the very least, inopportune. We need this support from the federal government, which we haven't had for 12 years. Our mayors haven't received this much funding in a long time," said Munhoz.

Representing the faction in favor of the party leaving the federal administration, the mayor of São Bernardo do Campo, Orlando Morando, countered:

— It worries me to support a government that's trying to save resources.

The information is from rReporting by Silvia Amorim and Juliana Arreguy in O Globo.