Lack of agreement on MPs blocks Lula’s agenda – 03/22/2023 – Politics

A new round of meetings between the Chamber and the Senate ended this Wednesday (22) without an agreement on the processing of the MPs (provisional measures) — prolonging the blockade of the Planalto agenda in Congress almost two months after the start of work in the Legislative .

The presidents of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), met alone this Wednesday after weeks of crisis, but did not reach an agreement on the rite of analysis of the texts, changed exceptionally during the pandemic.

With no solution to the impasse, MPs edited by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) are still stuck in Congress – and with the deadline running. Arthur Lira tells allies that he is willing to let the texts lose their validity if the rite is not defined.

In the midst of the arm wrestling match between the two legislative houses, the leader of the government in Congress, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), stated that the situation reached a “limit” and that the Planalto does not rule out alternatives to MPs (provisional measures) already edited.

“If there is resignation [por parte da Câmara] in appreciating MPs, the government also does not rule out the possibility of presenting urgent bills”, he said, adding that “it is evident that there is no agreement”.

Provisional measures are edited by the President of the Republic and come into effect immediately, but depend on congressional approval in order not to lose validity. Thus, the House and Senate have up to 120 days to approve or reverse the government’s initiative.

One of the MPs awaiting approval is the one that restructured and created ministries, such as Indigenous Peoples and Culture. Another text awaited by the government establishes the casting vote in CARF (Administrative Council of Financial Resources).

Like other bills sent by Lula in January, the two texts have been stalled in Congress for 49 days. Essential programs for the Planalto Palace, such as Bolsa Família and Minha Casa, Minha Vida, were also recreated via a provisional measure.

Pacheco told journalists this Wednesday that the president of the Chamber did not present any concrete proposal and that, “if there is no such understanding, the Constitution must prevail, which determines that there must be joint committees.”

The president of the Senate —who accumulates the presidency of Congress— faces pressure from leaders to install joint committees that analyze MPs in spite of the will of the Chamber. He assesses, however, that this does not solve the problem because no deputy will want to participate and be at odds with Lira.

An ally of Lira claims, with reservation, that one way out would be to approve a PEC to define new deadlines for the approval of provisional measures in each House, replacing the 120 days as a single limit, currently in force.

In the assessment of this ally, giving separate deadlines for the Chamber and Senate to analyze MPs could end the criticism that deputies take time to approve the Executive’s proposals, leaving a few days for senators to analyze the texts.

Another possibility of compromise, say leaders of the Chamber, is to change the composition of the joint committees, to increase the number of deputies in relation to the number of senators (regularly, there are 12 parliamentarians from each House in the collegiate).

Pacheco, however, practically dismissed the idea this Wednesday. The senator said that the “weight of the Senate cannot be greater than that of the House” and vice versa, and that the current format seems to be the best this is “a question of equal position”.

“We cannot be intransigent. So there was no proposal that we rejected. But an idea that was raised about changing the composition of the commissions […] it is not an idea that seems very reasonable to me because it is not a question of the number of deputies and senators”, he said.

According to reports, Lira would have been bothered by the fact that Pacheco had sent interlocutors to address the issue – with Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) and government leaders being the main ones. The ideal, they ponder, would have been a gesture by the President of the Senate himself.

The malaise between the two intensified after a change in posture by the mayor. Lira was one of the enthusiasts for the creation of a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) to alternate the beginning of the processing of provisional measures between the two Houses.

Party leaders told the Sheet, however, that Lira endorsed the proposal without consulting the other leaders of the House. At the beginning of the week, former presidents of the Chamber, such as Arlindo Chinaglia (PT-SP), even spoke with Lira to reinforce the understanding that the Chamber is the initiating House and the Senate, the reviewing House.

Alternating the beginning of the processing of the provisional measures, in the view of the leaders of the Chamber, would be a concession to the Senate of an attribution that today is exclusive to the deputies.

In this context, Arthur Lira met with the leaders of all parties in the Chamber on Tuesday (21) and heard appeals not to accept the alternation of provisional measures. According to reports, the president agreed with the position and apologized to the parliamentarians for having advanced in the articulations without consulting them.