Congress will not give in on what has already been approved, says Lira – 09/05/2023 – Market

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, was strongly applauded at an event with businessmen this Tuesday (9) in New York, when he said that Congress will not give in to issues already approved.

“If I were to say what is the main reform that Congress has to deal with, everyone can say that it is the tax. No. The main reform that Congress will have to fight daily is the reform of not letting go back everything that has was approved in Brazil”, said Lira to applause at the event promoted by Lide, by former governor of São Paulo João Doria.

According to Lira, it was an extreme act, but “not out of nitpicking or political malice”, the reaction in the Chamber that overturned the changes made to the decrees by the federal government in the Sanitation Framework, last week, by 295 votes against 136.

“A decree, in the hierarchy of laws, cannot change a law passed by the Chamber and the Senate attacking a point that was widely discussed, as was the Sanitation Framework in our country. Before that, [houve] 10 or 12 days of a lot of negotiation so that the government could review parts of the decree. It was not possible “, she said. Lira said she hoped that the Senate would consecrate the vote this week.

He also mentioned the social security and labor reforms, approved in the governments of former presidents Jair Bolsonaro and Michel Temer, and mentioned the strengthening of the role of the Chamber and the Senate, adding that the current reality does not have the same scenario as other years of PT elections. .

“The Chamber and the Senate have increased their role. The world of Brazil in 2002 is not the same as in 2023, it is not the same as in 2010, it is not the same as in 2014. We did not have a fiscal responsibility law, we did not have the internet, we didn’t have regulatory agencies, we didn’t have a Congress with greater protagonism. Our challenge will be to make the framework and the reform [tributária] stay on the sidelines of polarization and political discussions,” he said.

The president of the Chamber also received the applause of businessmen in the audience when he mentioned the problem of polarization in Brazil.

“We need to be careful with these possibilities of exacerbating the increase or decrease of political friction in the country and we always have to have the principle of avoiding too much polarization. When the extremes start to get very strong and have evidence in their actions, all the rest of society pays, because it is squeezed by the difficulty of dialogue,” he said.

About the tax reform, he said that it will be the one that will be possible to improve the business environment and achieve “mainly what has been lacking in the country lately, which is legal security”, a problem that, according to Lira, has not been caused by Congress.

“It is not Congress that has destabilized legal security in the country. We need this environment to normalize and be reassured so that foreign investors and international resources can travel safely”, stated Lira.

Later, in an interview with journalists, the president of the Chamber stated that the issue of voting on the fiscal framework must remain out of any political discussion.

“Wanting to discuss reforms approved years ago in Congress is a step backwards. It is not me or the president of the Senate who are going to impose victories or defeats. It is the plenary score. Most Houses are conservative and liberal. Certain agendas separate us and it is not interesting that they are dealt with now. We have to focus our energies on what unites us, which is the tax framework and reform. We cannot pass this image of legal uncertainty abroad”, he said.

The journalist traveled at the invitation of Lide.