Congress will install commissions to analyze provisional measures

Policy

Rhythm of processing MPs can be a new test of governability

In a new test of governance for the Executive, the National Congress should install five more mixed commissions this Tuesday (13) to analyze provisional measures (MPs) sent by the federal government. The meetings are scheduled for 2:30 pm, when the presidents of each joint committee must be elected.

Among the MPs are the one that raised the minimum wage, the one that readjusted the salary of Executive servers and the one that expanded the Income Tax exemption range.

After the difficulties in approving the first provisional measures, such as the restructuring of the ministries, there is an expectation about the processing of the most recent ones, whether it will occur in a more predictable and safe way for the federal government.

For Luís Felipe Miguel, professor of political science at the University of Brasília (UnB), coordinator of Demodê – Research Group on Democracy and Inequalities, the tactic used in the first Lula governments to achieve governability lost strength in the face of the strengthening of the Legislative against the Executive in the last years.

“It was clear, when we see the declarations of the leaders of parties on the right of the center — União Brasil, PSD, PP, Republicans — that they are not willing to close a parliamentary base in exchange for space in the government. They want this space without committing themselves to permanent parliamentary support”, said the professor to Agência Brasil, According to Luís Felipe Miguel, the government has not yet achieved political stability in Parliament.

“Since there has not been a significant change in the relationship between these parties and the government, it is not ruled out that they decide to choose one of these measures that are being analyzed to make another demonstration of force”, added the professor.

The Provisional Measures

MP 1,170/23 established a linear readjustment of 9% for all federal civil servants, including retirees and pensioners, as of May 1, 2023. In addition, it increased food allowance by 43%. The readjustment resulted from an agreement between the government and more than 100 organizations representing workers.

MP 1,171/23 exempted from the Individual Income Tax (IRPF), as of May 2023, those who receive up to R$ 2,112 per month. Until then, only those who received up to R$ 1,903.98 per month did not pay IRPF. With an additional discount of BRL 528 on amounts withheld at source, the exemption reaches BRL 2,640, which corresponds to two minimum wages of BRL 1,320.

MP 1,172/23 raised the minimum wage from R$1,302 to R$1,320 as of May 2023. In Brazil, the minimum wage is a reference for around 60.3 million workers and retirees.

MP 1,173/23 extended, by one more cloth, the deadline for regulation, by the Executive Branch, of worker food programs. In 2022, the National Congress passed Law 14,442, determining that food allowances should only be used to pay in restaurants and the like. According to the Ministry of Labor and Employment, there has not yet been time to regulate the issue due to its complexity.

MP 1,174/23 creates the National Pact for the Resumption of Engineering Works and Services for Basic Education. The program provides for the release of BRL 4 billion by 2026 to complete more than 3,500 unfinished school works.

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