Government's coalition wants to avoid extra expenses

The government leader in the Chamber of Deputies, José Guimarães (member of the Workers' Party—PT), said Tuesday (Feb. 16) that the ruling coalition of the House, which met this morning with President Dilma Rousseff, decided to close a deal to avoid extra public expenses.

"We have signaled, at the suggestion of the leaders, our willingness to make a pact for growth, which is avoid voting for bills incurring in extra expenses and, from that, we can discuss the quality of public spending," said Guimarães, after the meeting attended by 24 representatives among leaders and vice-leaders of 14 parties' benches.

José Guimarães reported that President Rousseff will go through a cycle of meetings with the benches to discuss growth recovery. "The president wants to engage in a fast-paced dialogue with her coalition in Congress."

He added that Rousseff has asked again for their for voting bills that attract the government's interest, like the pension reform and bringing back the old CMPF (Temporary Tax on Financial Transactions).

"The central axis is governance; we have to work to end the period of political instability and vote on bills of interest for the country. The watchword is direct dialogue. We have only a few months, it is an election year. We have to do everything by May," said Guimarães.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta