Vote on subsidies for sugarcane growers is postponed.

Iolando Lourenço
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia - The vote on Provisional Measure (MP) 615, which originally provided for the granting of subsidies to sugarcane and ethanol producers to compensate for losses in the 2011/12 harvest, was postponed by the president of the Chamber, deputy Henrique Eduardo Alves (PMDB-RN) at the request of party leaders. The MP arrived at the Chamber in the early afternoon yesterday (4) and there was no time to analyze it.

Alves reported that the Provisional Measure would not be voted on due to its complexity and the "extremely short timeframe for the House to vote on it" to meet the minimum one-week deadline from the end of its validity, established by the Senate for voting in that House. The Provisional Measure expires on the 16th. Henrique Alves reported that he tried, unsuccessfully, with the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), to reduce the one-week deadline for voting on the matter.

According to Henrique Alves, the Chamber cannot be held responsible for not voting on the MP, since the joint committee that analyzed the proposal only sent it to the Chamber in the early afternoon, in addition to having made several changes to the government's original text. He called a deliberative session for tomorrow (5) at 9 am, to try to vote on the MP.

During the session scheduled for the vote on the provisional measure, many party leaders questioned the lack of time for discussion and voting on the matter. In response, Henrique Alves said he will propose to the Senate president that provisional measures reach the Chamber of Deputies at least 15 days before their expiration date.

In the special committee, the Provisional Measure underwent several changes, including the addition of a provision to reopen the deadlines for the Crisis Refinancing Program (a 2009 tax debt renegotiation program), tax breaks for various sectors, and the resumption of discussions on the transfer of taxi driver licenses.