BRASILIA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Brazil’s Congress will next week analyze a constitutional amendment that aims to revive emergency cash transfers to millions of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said on Thursday. Emergency aid to over 60 million Brazilians as the COVID-19 pandemic raged last year expired on Dec. 31, but a second wave of the virus and a faltering economic recovery have forced the government to extend it, albeit at lower rates. Pacheco was speaking to reporters after meeting with Lower House leader Arthur Lira and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes to discuss the emergency aid and cuts in other areas of the federal budget to compensate for the increased spending. “It was agreed today ... that among the many bills to be unveiled next week, the emergency PEC will be on the table,” Pacheco said, referring to the constitutional amendment, or “PEC” as it is known by its Portuguese acronym. “The (PEC) will be presented by Senator Marcio Bittar by Monday and Senate approval will allow, via a war budget clause, a calamity clause that is required to implement the emergency aid,” Pacheco said. Last week, Pacheco said he anticipated a program of four monthly payments from March through June which meets the government’s fiscal rules. For that to happen, the aid must be part of a “calamity clause” in the constitutional amendment bill, mirroring last year’s “War Budget” that bypassed the conventional budget rules and meant the government’s spending cap was not broken. Pacheco said on Thursday that spending cuts elsewhere were not necessarily a condition for reviving the cash transfers, but a strong signal that Congress is serious about its long-term commitment to reducing Brazil’s record debt. (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello in Brasilia Writing by Jamie McGeever Editing by Matthew Lewis)