Congress session just after Holy Week

Pressured to convene the first session of the National Congress of the year, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) stated that it should only take place in the last weeks of April, after Holy Week. The delay occurs because the president of the Senate will have to read the request for the opening of a Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) dedicated to investigating responsibilities and omissions during the acts of vandalism on January 8. The statement was given during a press conference, this Wednesday afternoon (22), before the opening of the Senate session.

Critics of Pacheco’s delay in scheduling the session recall that dozens of presidential vetoes accumulate to be voted on and that this indecision may be serving the government’s effort to withdraw support from parliamentarians to the CPMI.

Pacheco stated, however, that, if the minimum number of signatures in the request is maintained, he will install the commission in the next session of Congress, as required by the regulations.

That afternoon, the President of the Senate and Congress also commented on the Federal Police (PF) operation that dismantled the plan of the largest criminal faction in the country to assassinate Senator Sergio Moro (União-PR). He said that he was informed early on about the PF’s attacks by the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, whom he congratulated on his success, and who had already been providing adequate security for Moro since the beginning of the year. He also expressed solidarity with the senator from Paraná.

Processing of MPs: arm wrestling with Lira continues

Rodrigo Pacheco also said that he will continue negotiating with the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), a way out of the impasse surrounding the resumption of the normal rite for the processing of Provisional Measures (MPs). He regretted that Lira had not presented alternatives so that it could at least be discussed at the lunch they had earlier to deal with the matter.

Pacheco added, however, that he will defend compliance with the script set out in the Constitution, in case the two do not reach an understanding, enforcing the immediate establishment of joint committees of 12 senators and 12 deputies to evaluate the MPs, before proceeding to the plenary sessions of the two Houses of Congress. He declined to say how he would force Lira to obey the rule. Dozens of initiatives from the Executive are waiting for the deliberation of parliamentarians, running the imminent risk of expiring after completing 120 days of validity.

The President of the Senate considered that it would be reasonable to maintain the summary rite that had been adopted exceptionally during the pandemic only for the MPs edited in the management of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), resuming the normal procedure, with the return of the joint committees, for all published by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which have been published since January. “This is the correct and democratic way. Therefore, I will exhaust all possibilities to reach an agreement”, he said, adding that he hopes to reach that purpose by Friday, the 24th.

Pacheco was against the thesis of changing the balance between the Senate and the Chamber in the composition of the commissions and warned that the suggestion of an eventual alternation of procedures between the two Houses requires the presentation of a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC). “But there’s nothing on the table to discuss,” he said.