Congress enters an “informal recess” after Lula’s request to postpone the LDO vote

The deputies and senators entered a kind of “informal recess” (or “white recess”, as it is also known) this Monday (17) without voting on the 2024 Budgetary Guidelines Law (LDO), at the request of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The July recess is only allowed to parliamentarians after the Budget vote.

However, Lula asked congressmen to vote on the 2024 LDO only after approval of the new fiscal framework, to be discussed again by deputies in August after the Senate made changes to the text voted in the Chamber.

The parliamentary recess normally lasts from 18 to 31 July. But, this year, it began informally last week in the Chamber of Deputies, which did not hold plenary sessions after President Arthur Lira (PP-AL) advanced the agenda and went on a trip.

The Senate continued with plenary sessions and commissions until last Wednesday (12).

The return of the parliamentary recess, in August, will see intense discussions in Congress of projects considered to be priorities for the government, such as the new fiscal framework, tax reform and the return of the casting vote to the Administrative Council of Fiscal Resources (Carf), beyond the 2024 Budget itself.

Last week, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), said that the new fiscal rule and the tax reform will be approved in the coming months, and gave an expectation of up to the middle of the second semester.

Still in the second half, the government should send to Congress the project that makes the second part of the tax reform related to income – the first is about consumption –, which should also have new debates and more negotiations with parliamentarians.

This and the other projects will be the agenda of the meeting that Lula intends to hold with party leaders in early August, to try to sew a more solid support base and less dependent on the distribution of amendments and positions in the first and second echelons of government. .