Government suffers defeats and sees disarticulation in Congress – 04/15/2023 – Power

Congress has begun to unlock the government’s agenda and has given clearer demonstrations of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) difficulties in consolidating political support in the Legislature.

The Planalto Palace accumulated, mainly this month, a series of defeats and mishaps in the House and Senate.

The list includes invitations and convenings of commissions to expose Lula’s ministers and a narrow margin of votes to be able to speedily approve the project to rehire Mais Médicos, in addition to the dispute for the rapporteur of the measure that recreates Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

Government officials also cite frustration with the PDT and PSB for not forming a bloc in the Chamber with the PT, in addition to articulation, even among allies, against the president’s decrees that change the rules for the sanitation sector.

Members of the Planalto Palace and people close to Lula claim that recent episodes demonstrate failures in political articulation and control of the agenda, and not necessarily lack of support for the government. The assessment is that, if the allies were properly mobilized, the results would be more aligned with the interests of the Executive.

Planalto still hasn’t gone through a big test to know the size of the base in the Legislative. But the signs, so far, have been negative for the PT – which has generated concern among parliamentarians and members of the palace political core.

They fear that, if this situation is not adjusted, it will jeopardize the vote on matters considered a priority for the government, such as the new fiscal framework and tax reform.

This same assessment was given by the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), in an interview with GloboNews on Thursday (13). He stated that the Executive needs to “improve its political gear” and “get things going, so that its base is oiled” when economic matters are voted on.

Among the obstacles faced by the Lula government in Congress is the urgency vote for the More Doctors project, presented by Deputy Odair Cunha (PT-MG), last Tuesday (11).

257 votes were needed to approve the speed of the proposal. The government got 264 — a lead of just 7 votes. The score worried Lula’s allies.

One of the explanations for this result was the participation in the vote of only 409 of the 513 deputies, despite the Planalto’s interest in the agenda. In addition, there were 144 votes against the urgency, including members of the PSD, MDB and União Brasil —parties with three ministries each.

In a setback, the government had to intervene in a dispute over the rapporteurship of the MP (provisional measure) that recreates Minha Casa, Minha Vida. PSOL leader Guilherme Boulos (SP), an ally of the government, was appointed rapporteur for the text, but had to give way to deputy Fernando Marangoni (União Brasil-SP).

The parliamentarian, who positions himself independently, was once Housing Secretary of Santo André (SP) and, upon taking office as deputy, became coordinator of the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Basic Sanitation. This group has been discussing proposals to overturn part of Lula’s decrees, signed in April, which deal with rules for the sector.

One of the projects to annul part of Lula’s acts was presented by deputy Fernando Monteiro (PP-PE), who is an ally of the government and also of Lira.

The articulation of the Planalto has also faced difficulties in decisions made by committees in the Chamber and the Senate. Several collegiate bodies have approved invitations and summons (mandatory attendance) for ministers to attend Congress to give explanations or talk about portfolio priorities.

Although the cases are seen as a possible source of wear and tear, as they expose ministers to opposition questioning, Lula’s allies downplay the episodes, saying that the government has managed to turn several requests for summons into invitations.

In recent days, the Financial Inspection and Control Commission of the Chamber approved the invitation for seven ministers, including Fernando Haddad (Finance). The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, has already been to two committees in the Chamber and ended up being summoned to appear in May at a Senate committee.

In addition, in votes in the Chamber, the government has accumulated small defeats in recent weeks. The first of these was at the end of March, with the MP that loosened the protections for the Atlantic Forest.

The leader of the government in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), tried to minimize it, stating that “there was no vote of defeat for the government”. “Peripheral things that don’t interfere with anything.”

Another example is the MP on Perse (Emergency Program for the Resumption of the Events Sector), edited in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, which was not taken to a vote due to lack of agreements between the government and the Legislature.

In this case, the threat of the government’s defeat in plenary could take on other proportions, since the PM is reported by the government leader himself.

On Tuesday (11), during a session of the Chamber’s Financial Inspection and Control Commission, opposition parliamentarians, led by Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos-PR), managed to bar PT’s invitation for lawyer Rodrigo Tacla Duran to speak at the collegiate.

Tacla Duran, who worked for the construction company Odebrecht and is a defendant in Operation Lava Jato, made accusations of extortion against Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) and Deltan.

The formation of the commission is seen as an example of a slippage in the political articulation of the government in the Chamber. The collegiate, which has the power to summon ministers from all areas of the Executive, has only 8 parliamentarians from parties considered to be from the PT’s base among the 20 titular seats and is chaired by Bolsonarist Bia Kicis (PL-DF).

In addition, people close to Lula also cite frustration with the PDT and PSB for not forming a bloc in the Chamber with the PT and having joined a group of 173 deputies aligned with Lira.

Officialized on Wednesday (12), the block is formed by PP, União Brasil, PSDB-Cidadania, Solidariedade, Patriota and Avante, in addition to PDT and PSB. The PT president, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), even spoke to the leaders of both parties, but was unable to dissuade them from joining the group.