Budget committee chair berates social card measure

(ANSA) - Rome, November 21 - Lower House budget committee chair Francesco Boccia on Friday berated a government amendment to its 2015 budget bill that would refund Poste Italiane public post office for the cost of distributing Italy's State social card for the very poor to non-Italians with residency permits.
    Holders can use the card to buy food and medicine and to pay utilities bills, and they also get discounts at participating stores. It is available to the very poor, including people aged over 65 and children under three, and since 2013 it has been made available to foreigners who are legal residents.
    Boccia on Friday argued the amendment was "ill-conceived" because it appears to refund Poste for services it has already been compensated for.
    "If the objective is to pay Poste money that had already been advanced, the way is not the one indicated by the govenment's amendment," Boccia said.
    "The amendment is ill-conceived and won't even be voted on today".
    News of the amendment became grist for the mill of assorted right-wing and anti-immigrant opposition parties, even though the social card for legal immigrants has been in use since last year.
    Also on Friday, the rapporteur of the government's 2015 budget bill on Friday filed an amendment making a so-called baby bonus available to families with total income and assets of 25,000 euros a year instead of 90,000 a year.
    The bonus would double for families living on under 7,000 euros, according to the amendment. A separate amendment adds an extra 400 million euros in social benefits, with an additional 200 million euros available in 2015 and the same amount in 2016. That comes in addition to the original budget allocation of 1.5 billion euros in social benefits, sources said.
    "The amendment is ill-conceived and won't even be voted on today," said Boccia. Instituted in 2008, the social card is charged automatically by the State with 80 euros every two months.