Brazil's Contested Pension Bill Still Short on Votes

President Michel Temer appealed to Congress Monday to approve his contested pension reform proposal, but a cabinet minister said his government still lacks some 40 votes to pass the unpopular bill.

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Congressional leaders said that the bill would never get through if it was not voted on this month before lawmakers begin to focus on the October general election.

"The pension vote must be in February. If we delay further, we will never pass it," lower house Speaker Rodrigo Maia said at a news conference.

His minister in charge of political affairs, Carlos Marun, told reporters the government was 40 votes short of the two-thirds supermajority of 308 needed for approval.

Marun said he was confident that the bill would pass this month because there are between 80 and 100 Congressmen who have not yet made up their minds.

Brazil's main workers' unions, including the Brazilian Workers' Central, CTB, the Unified Workers' Central, CUT, Unionist Force, Força Sindical, Interunions, New Central and the General Workers' Union, UGT, last week announced a national protest day for next February 19, during carnival, as part of a new phase in the movement against Temer's de facto government and his elderly pensions reform.