Chamber: Lira advances to give PT main commission – 01/28/2023 – Power

The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), put together an agreement to give the PT the command of the main committee of the House in the first year of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government.

Lira’s negotiations with the parties that will make up her parliamentary bloc should also limit the powers of the PL, the party of former president Jair Bolsonaro at the start of the new federal management.

The PL, with 99 deputies, and the PT (with 68) will be the two biggest forces in the legislature that begins on February 1st. The Chamber’s rules on priority for choosing positions on the board of directors and thematic commissions take into account the size of the benches in the election.

The greatest opposition force to the Lula government, the PL indicated to Lira, who is seeking re-election as president of the Chamber, that he wanted to keep the first vice-presidency of the Chamber —today occupied by deputy Lincoln Portela (PL-MG). In addition, he fights for the command of the CCJ (Commission of Constitution and Justice), the most important of the Chamber.

At the head of the CCJ, the party could delay or block the processing of projects of interest to the government or even guide proposals that conflict with themes dear to the PT.

At the beginning of the week, the PT tried to resume negotiations for a parallel bloc to isolate the PL and, thus, preside over the main committee of the Chamber in the first year of Lula 3.

In addition to the left, this group would try to attract parties such as União Brasil, PSD and MDB, in addition to smaller acronyms, to have a majority of deputies. This would give the ruling bloc priority in choosing commissions.

At the same time, the president of the Republicans, Marcos Pereira (SP), decided to launch himself in the dispute for the first vice-presidency, a position he already occupied between 2019 and 2021, in the management of then-president Rodrigo Maia (RJ).

At the beginning of the week, Lira met with the benches of Bahia and Espírito Santo. In both, Pereira spoke and asked for votes to be the vice-president of the House. The President of the Republicans did the same at the meeting with the Rio de Janeiro bench, this Thursday (26).

To accommodate the allies and the PT, Lira built an agreement according to which Marcos Pereira would have the first vice-presidency and the PL, with the second vice – a position that is usually figurative.

In Valdemar Costa Neto’s party, the initial expectation was that Deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ) would occupy the post. However, a wing of the PL defends that the current leader in the Chamber, Altineu Côrtes (RJ), go to the board of directors and that Sóstenes remains in the leadership of the bench.

Lira also hinted at a negotiation according to which the PT would occupy the CCJ in the first year of the Lula government. Three other parties —the PL itself, PP and União Brasil— would occupy the commission in the coming years. In the sewing done by Lira, the MDB could integrate the rotation instead of the PP.

Despite seeming to be an emptying of the main opposition party to the PT government, parliamentarians indicate that the result could be positive for the legend of Valdemar Costa Neto.

The strategy, according to them, would be to reward the PL with the presidency of the CCJ in 2025, in the last half of the Lula government. They argue that by then the PT administration will have accumulated wear and tear. The opposition party could take advantage of this scenario.

In addition, the PL ceded the first deputy of the Chamber to the Republicans after agreeing that it will command the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo. The party’s president, Valdemar da Costa Neto, seeks to invest in the state as a means of ensuring the election of mayors in 2026, hence the importance of the Assembly.

The Republicans also decided to support the candidacy of Rogério Marinho (PL-RN) in the race for the presidency of the Senate.

The CMO (Mixed Budget Committee), responsible for analyzing the federal budget, is also part of the negotiations. This year, the deputies have the budget rapporteur and the position should remain with União Brasil.

In her negotiations for re-election, Lira also decided to break up thematic commissions and contemplate allies in new collegiate bodies that will be created, such as Health, IT, Regional Development and Native Peoples.

The election of command posts in the Chamber is closely monitored by the Lula government.

The PT wants to continue the appointment of second-tier positions after the election of the board of directors and the definition of the presidency of commissions with the objective of contemplating nominees of these parliamentarians in the structure of the government. It is an attempt to facilitate the processing in the Legislative of projects of interest to the Planalto.