Arcabouço showed Lira’s strength and betrayals at Lula’s base – 05/24/2023 – Market

The significant victory of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in approving the basic text of the new fiscal framework in the Chamber was achieved with the support of deputies allied with the President of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) and exposed dissent between parties aligned with the Planalto Palace.

The project received favorable votes from independent parties, such as the PP, Republicans and União Brasil – the latter has three ministries, but is not formally part of Lula’s political base.

On the other hand, acronyms that joined Lula since the election campaign, such as PSOL and Rede, decided to vote against the proposal. These legends have ministries on the Esplanade.

The government acted to prevent further betrayals at the base. Lula and the president’s assistants demanded the PT’s loyalty. The entire PT bench ended up voting in favor of the text, but a group of 22 party deputies signed a document criticizing the new fiscal framework.

The PP, from Lira, gave 39 votes in favor of the project. Only 7 on the bench were against. The President of the Chamber committed himself to the articulation of the proposal. From the beginning, he left his fingerprint on the new fiscal framework – which was reported by an ally of Lira, deputy Cláudio Cajado (PP-BA).

In the PL, party of former president Jair Bolsonaro, there were also favorable votes. There were 30 deputies who supported the text. This represents about 30% of the opposition party to Lula.

The government’s victory in approving the new fiscal framework was the first significant one after the Chamber voted to overthrow Lula’s decree with changes to the Sanitation Framework.

The vote, at the beginning of the month, against the Planalto act with rules in the sanitation sector revealed a legion of infidels in the União Brasil, MDB and PSD —parties that delivered 99 votes against the government and 8 in favor.

Arthur Lira, however, claimed since the beginning of the month that the crises in the government’s political articulation, which caused the defeat in sanitation, would not affect the votes on economic measures.

“The framework is not at risk, I believe not. I think that this project is not a government project, it cannot be polluted as a government project. We are going to bring the new rule. It was well received, some details were missing and will be corrected in plenary “, Lira told Globo News on May 3.

In addition to the PP and PL, the President of the Chamber also has relevant influence on the Republican and União Brasil benches. These four parties, in addition to PT and MDB, are the ones that bring together the most deputies.

The political articulation of the Planalto flirts, since the beginning of the government, with wings of the centrão, such as PP, Republicans and PL, who were allied with Bolsonaro and whose votes may migrate to Lula depending on the negotiation.

Centrão leaders charge the government for more speed in the release of parliamentary amendments – this is seen in Congress as fundamental for expanding Lula’s base.

Despite the dissatisfactions, Lula managed to win the framework. The score of 372 votes to 108 was the result of adjustments in the political articulation after the defeat in the Chamber over the sanitation decree. In addition, the government had the support of Lira.

“We need to have a fiscal regime with a goal to be met in our country. The federal government needs to have parameters. Triggers were placed in the text, and the initial proposal was substantially improved”, said the leader of the Republicans, Hugo Motta (PB) , ally of the President of the Chamber.

However, Lula had difficulty maintaining the loyalty of the hard core of the governing base in the vote this Tuesday night (23).

The left-wing parties that united in the presidential campaign, such as PSB, PC do B, PSOL and Rede, are seen in the Planalto as the center of political support in Congress. But the entire PSOL bench –12 deputies– voted against the new fiscal framework. The Network, which has a deputy, also did not support the text.

“We received, with great concern, this new spending ceiling, which, in fact, limits investment in social areas and unfortunately allows a logic of having two ceilings for everything: for the expansion of public investment, for social assistance, for infrastructure works , but there is no limit for financial expenses with the payment of debt service”, said congresswoman Fernando Melchionna (PSOL-RS).

There was betrayal even in the PV, which makes up the federation along with the PT. Deputy Professor Reginaldo Veras (PV-DF) was against the project.

To expand governance, Lula, after being elected, sought out center parties, such as the MDB, União Brasil and PSD. Each gained three ministries.

Dissidence in these parties was much lower than in the vote on sanitation decrees. But the wings most linked to Lula’s opposition continued to vote against the government.

In the MDB, there were three deputies opposed to the proposal: Rafael Prudente (DF), Osmar Terra (RS) and Delegado Palumbo (SP). All of them are allies of Bolsonaro.

Two PSD deputies did not vote in favor of the government and also support Bolsonaro. They are: Sargento Fahur (PR) and Ricardo Guidi (SC).

The União Brasil recorded seven votes against the text, such as those of congresswoman Rosângela Moro (PR) and Mendonça Filho (PE), who was quoted to report on the project.

“I wanted fiscal responsibility, unfortunately this is not what we will have from the vote on this framework that we will vote on tonight [terça-feira]”, said Mendonza.

The expressive score showed a wide gap in relation to the minimum of 257 votes that the government needed to gather for the approval of a supplementary bill – the case of the new fiscal framework.