Congress closes with government text of new fiscal rule, but vote depends on leaders

The presidents of the two houses of Congress, federal deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL) and senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), closed an agreement with the government and representatives of the productive sector to vote, still this semester, the projects of the new tax rule and tax reform. The consensus took place during a meeting held this Tuesday morning (23) at the official residence of the Legislative in Brasília.

Lira and Pacheco reached a consensus in a relationship that was already troubled at the beginning of this year to approve, this week, the fiscal framework project that will replace the current Expenditure Ceiling, but the vote itself still depends on a meeting with party leaders this afternoon. The reading of the text in plenary may take place this Tuesday (23) or Wednesday (24) and then be appreciated in the Senate.

The text’s rapporteur, deputy Cláudio Cajado (PP-BA), had to discuss with the presidents 40 amendments presented by the parliamentarians, which should be negotiated during the meeting with leaders. The government hopes to approve the project with as few modifications as possible.

“Today will be symbolic for this final start of voting on today’s framework [terça, 23] for tomorrow
[quarta, 24] in the House, being sent to the Senate as soon as possible, and with the effective agenda of the reform [tributária] this semester in the Chamber of Deputies”, said Arthur Lira.

Pacheco did not go into detail about the vote on the framework itself, but said that this morning’s meeting established “harmony between the Senate and the Chamber and the Legislature with the Executive at this time.” The same view of Minister Fernando Haddad, that the two houses of Congress reached a “consensus around the two agendas, that we have to vote”.

“Both [os relatores da nova regra fiscal e da reforma tributária] society has heard a lot about what is possible and desirable for the country”, said Haddad also referring to Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), who reports the text of the reform.

The expectation of the presidents of the two houses of Congress to complete the vote on the new fiscal rule this week may run into opposition to the government, which intends to prevent Senator Jaques Wagner’s (PT-BA) urgent request from accelerating the processing of the project in the Senate as it did in the House. Senator Jorge Seif (PL-SC) said, on Monday (22), that the parties should vote against, causing the text to be analyzed in committees such as Economic Affairs (CAE) and Constitution and Justice (CCJ) before to go to the plenary.

Past reforms should not return to the agenda

Lira and Pacheco, along with other participants at the meeting, also discussed the possibility of the government reviewing topics of reforms and decisions taken in the past by Congress, in reference to constant criticism by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on issues such as the legislation that allowed the privatization of Eletrobras, the Marco Legal do Saneamento, in which the government was defeated in an attempt to change some parts of the law, and a possible change in the autonomy of the Central Bank.

Although Haddad, who represented the government, did not comment on this, Lira gave the government a message similar to that of other occasions, in which Congress will not accept “revisiting matters” that it has already voted on.

“Revisiting issues that Congress voted on a short time ago has to happen when they happen within the scope of the National Congress. It is important that we calm down these issues on these agendas, which will effectively not be echoed in the plenary sessions of both houses, regardless of my will or that of President Pacheco. The government has been informed of this, Minister Haddad has repeatedly mentioned these situations”, shot Lira.

In addition to discussing the two main matters in the economic area for the government in this first semester, the meeting this Tuesday (23) also dealt with the country’s interest rate, which is at 13.75% and is the target of constant criticism from Lula and members government since the beginning of the year. The president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, was present at the meeting and heard from the other participants the need for a reduction.

“That is the intention of everyone, from the National Congress to the President of the Republic, Lula, and his economic team and society in the productive sector, which is the gradual reduction of the Selic rate”, said Pacheco without going into details.

This morning’s meeting was articulated by deputy Eumar Nascimento (União Brasil-BA), leader of the party in the Chamber that is divided sometimes as an ally and sometimes as opposition to the government, and was also attended by representatives of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) and the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban).