Chamber gives an average period of 19 days for the Senate to analyze MPs – 04/16/2023 – Power

Under the presidency of Arthur Lira (PP-AL) in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate had an average of 19 days to analyze MPs (provisional measures) edited between 2021 and 2022, according to a survey carried out by the Sheet.

The period represents a fraction of 16% of the total period of 120 days for an MP to proceed through Congress.

The lack of time for senators to analyze the MPs is the center of the tug of war that took place between the Chamber and the Senate due to the rite of appreciation of these measures.

The Constitution provides for the creation of joint committees before the text is taken to the plenary of each House. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the two Bureaus reached an agreement in March 2020 to temporarily suspend the installation of these collegiate bodies.

MPs began to be voted directly in plenary, first in the House, then in the Senate. Under this model, however, there is no time limit for deputies to address the matter.

Faced with the delay, senators repeatedly complained of having become “text stampers”, with no time to propose changes.

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), has been trying since the beginning of the year to resume the constitutional rite of installing mixed commissions. Lira resists.

The lifting of Sheet considers all 117 MPs edited since February 1, 2021, when Lira and Pacheco were elected for the first time in charge of the respective Houses, and whose processing ended until April 6 of this year.

Of these, 84 were voted on and converted into law between 2021 and early 2023. Another 31 lost effectiveness, one was returned and one was revoked.

When considering the MPs validated, the average period that the Senate had to vote on the texts was 19 days. Of the 84 proposals, only 11 reached the hands of senators with more than 30 days to be considered.

One of the MPs, 1,133/2022, which allowed the participation of the private sector in the exploration of nuclear ores in partnership with the state-owned INB (Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil SA), was sent to the Senate with only three days to go before the deadline.

At the end of March, Lira cited a mapping done by the Chamber itself to defend the special rite and counter criticism.

“In the year 2021, we took an average of 87 days [para votar] MPs in the Chamber, we never exceed 90 days. And in the year 2022, 72 days on average. Therefore, that allegation that the Senate was squeezed, without a deadline, is not true “, he said. Lira cited the number in an article in Folha.

The report asked Lira, via advisory, access to this survey, but it was not sent.

In a note, he reaffirmed the numbers he has been using and said that “the 70 days average period of permanence of MPs in the Chamber is below the average limit of 90 days agreed with the Senate, a fact that was even publicly praised by that Legislative House”.

A Sheetthrough his advisory, Pacheco said he defended a minimum period of 30 days for the Senate to analyze the MPs and avoided raising the tone of clash with the Chamber.

“In some cases, the ideal time was a little off, and some provisional measures were sent at the last minute to the Senate. But there were few cases”, says Pacheco.

The drop in the number of days used by the Chamber to consider MPs is not necessarily related to greater agility on the part of deputies.

In a first sign of dissatisfaction, Pacheco started to hold back the dispatches for sending the measures to the Chamber. It is a procedural issue: as president of Congress, it is up to him to sign the official letter to attest that the MP and its amendments are eligible for voting.

In early 2021, the interval between the publication of the MP in the Official Gazette and the signing of this order was between three and seven days. In 2022, it went from 30 days and, in some cases, bordered on 90 days.

In practice, this served to impose a faster pace on deputies —in a measure of strength whose final balance was the shortest time for discussions on the merits of each proposal.

The dispute around the MPs is closely monitored by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The petista has already edited 16 MPs, and some of them expire on June 1st.

An agreement signed between the Executive and the Legislative allowed the installation of three mixed commissions that will analyze MPs considered strategic for the Planalto: the one that deals with the structure of the government, the one that instituted the new Bolsa Família and the new Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

Political scientist Magna Inácio, a professor at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), says that the mixed commission favors the initial negotiation between the two Houses.

“Suppressing this, the Chamber gains even more bargaining power. Starting directly with the Chamber makes room for it not only to define the rapporteur, but to have control over the processing time. This greater control is what allows the benefit of allies and groups with rapporteurs of MPs”, he says.

She also considers that the deadline for processing the MPs is necessary to give vent to the political negotiation process. “The Senate already receives a negotiated version, which was modified in the Chamber. But that does not mean that the Senate needs less time. And the dynamics of bicameralism is this: the laws approved depend on the agreement of these three institutional actors.”

Under the special procedure procedure of the MPs, the presidents of the Houses also decide who will be the rapporteurs, central figures to define the final text.

The rule is different from what occurs in joint commissions, in which the rapporteur is appointed by the chairman of the commission —who, in turn, is elected from among the 12 deputies and 12 senators of the collegiate. There is also an alternation rule between the House and the Senate.

In the 117 MPs analyzed, Lira prioritized allies: her own party, the PP, and Jair Bolsonaro’s PL with 13 rapporteurs each, followed by the Republicans, with 9. The three acronyms made up the block that supported her election to the command of the Chamber in 2021.

In the Senate, the number is led by the PSD, the party to which Pacheco joined in 2021. There were 13 nominations. In the last legislature, the party had one of the largest benches in the House, sometimes tied with the MDB, which had 11 rapporteurs, tied with Bolsonaro’s PL.