IV—to create and abolish federal public posts, and fix the salaries attached thereto, in all cases by special law;
V—to vote the law of establishment of armed forces for peacetime;
VI—to authorize opening of credits, credit operations, and issues of legal tender currency;
VII—to transfer temporarily the seat of the Federal Government;
VIII—to resolve questions concerning boundaries of the national territory;
IX—to legislate regarding property of the federal domain, and all matters of the competence of the Union, the provisions of the following article being respected.
Art. 66—The National Congress shall have exclusive power:
I—to give final decision respecting treaties and conventions celebrated with foreign States by the President of the Republic;
II—to authorize the President of the Republic to declare war and make peace;
III—to authorize the President of the Republic to permit foreign forces to pass through the national territory or, by reason of war, to remain therein temporarily;
IV—to approve or suspend federal intervention when decreed by the President of the Republic;
V—to grant amnesty;
VI—to approve the resolutions of State legislative assemblies regarding merger, sub-division or partitioning of the States;
VII—to authorize the President and the Vice President of the Republic to absent themselves from the Country;
VIII—to judge the accounts of the President of the Republic;
IX—to fix the allowance of expenses and the subsidy of the members of the National Congress, as well as those of the President and Vice President of the Republic;
X—to temporarily move its seat.
SECTION V
Laws
Art. 67—The initiative of laws, excepting the cases of exclusive power, shall belong to the President of the Republic and to any member or committee of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Federal Senate.
§ 1. The initiative of the law establishing the armed forces and of all laws regarding financial matters appertains to the Chamber of Deputies and to the President of the Republic.
§ 2. Excepting the powers of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Federal Senate, as well as of the federal courts, in matters concerning their respective administrative services, the President of the Republic shall have exclusive power of initiative of laws which create positions in existing services, increase salaries, or modify in the course of each legislature the law of establishment of the armed forces.
§ 3. Discussion of bills initiated by the President of the Republic shall begin in the Chamber of Deputies.
Art. 68—A bill adopted in one of the Chambers shall be reviewed by the other, which, approving it, shall send it for approval or promulgation as prescribed by Arts. 70 and 71.
Sole Paragraph—The revision shall be discussed and voted upon in a single session.
Art. 69—If a bill of one Chamber is amended in the other, it shall return to the first for pronouncement regarding the modification and approval or disapproval.
Sole Paragraph—The bill shall be sent for approval in the terms (form) in which it was finally voted.
Art. 70—In the case of Article 65, the Chamber, where the voting of a bill is concluded shall, send it to the President of the Republic who, acquiescing, shall approve it.
§ 1. If the President of the Republic shall judge the bill, in whole or in part, unconstitutional or contrary to the national interests, he may veto same, totally or partially, within ten business days, counted from that on which he receives it, and he shall inform, within the same period, the President of the Senate, the reasons for the veto. If the veto is extended after the legislative session is over, the President of the Republic shall publish the veto.
§ 2. After the lapse of ten days, the silence of the President of the Republic shall be equivalent to approval.
§ 3. When the veto is communicated to the President of the Senate, he shall convoke the two Chambers to inform them in joint session, and if the vetoed bill obtain the vote of two-thirds of the representatives present, it shall be considered approved. In this case, the bill shall be sent to the President of the Republic for promulgation.
§ 4. If the law should not be promulgated within forty-eight hours by the President of the Republic, in the cases of paragraphs 2 and 3, the President of the Senate shall promulgate it; but if the latter should not do so within the same period of time, the Vice President of the Senate shall promulgate it.
Art. 71—In the cases of Article 66, the elaboration of the law shall be considered closed with the final voting, and it shall be promulgated by the President of the Senate.
Art. 72—Bills which are rejected or not approved may be renewed only in the same legislative session, by proposal of an absolute majority of the members of either of the Chambers.
SECTION VI
The Budget
Art. 73—The budget shall be one and it shall be obligatory to include in it all the receipts and the allotments of funds, and, discriminating in the expenses all the allotments necessary for the payment of all the public services.
§ 1. The budget law shall not contain any provision foreign to the provision of the receipts and the fixing of the expenses for services previously created. This prohibition shall not include:
I—authorization for opening of supplementary credits and credit operations in anticipation of receipts;
II—application of balances and manner of covering deficits.
§ 2. Budgeting of expenses shall be divided into two parts: one of them fixed, which may not be altered except by virtue of previous law; the other variable, which shall be subject to strict specialization.
Art. 74—If the budget shall not have been sent for approval by November 30, the one which was in effect shall be extended for the following fiscal year.
Art. 75—The transfer of budget items, and the granting of unlimited credits, and the opening of special credits without legislative authorization are prohibited.
Sole Paragraph—The opening of extraordinary credits shall be admitted only for urgent or unforeseen necessity, in case of war, internal commotion or public calamity.
Art. 76—The Tribunal of Accounts shall have its seat in the Capital of the Republic and jurisdiction throughout the national territory.
§ 1. The Ministers of the Tribunal of Accounts shall be appointed by the President of the Republic after approval of the selection by the Federal Senate and shall have the same rights, guarantees, prerogatives and remuneration as the judges of the Federal Courts of Appeals.
§ 2. The Tribunal of Accounts shall exercise, in matters concerning it, the same attributes as the judicial tribunals
6
