House Speaker: lawmakers to vote on job bill by Thursday

The lower house is set to hold a vote on a provisional decree creating an emergency job and income program by Thursday, according to House Speaker Rodrigo Maia. The bill would allow companies to reduce wages and working hours during the pandemic. In exchange, the government pledges to pay supplementary income to those workers.

War Budget bill

According to Mr. Maia, the House will give priority to the so-called “War Budget Bill” this week, which creates a form of parallel budget to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. This will go ahead of another bill offering financial aid to state governments, recently passed down by the Senate. The agenda could change, however, as the House has yet to reach a consensus over one provision of the War Bill, prohibiting the Central Bank from buying debts from small and very small enterprises.

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