LDO rapporteur promises to schedule Congress session if Pacheco does not schedule

The rapporteur of the Budgetary Guidelines Law (LDO) of 2024, federal deputy Danilo Forte (União Brasil-CE), stated this Friday (9) that Congress for convening a session to analyze the vetoes against the revaluation of the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).

The announcement was made amidst the delay in scheduling the joint session of the two Legislative Houses to deliberate on the vetoes issued in January by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on amendments to the 2024 federal budget.

According to Forte, “the rules open space for parliamentarians to call” the joint session if the president of Congress does not schedule it. “They can make the request and demand the extraordinary convocation. If President Pacheco does not clearly state the date of the convocation by the first week after Carnival, the Chamber and Senate benches will present the request”, said the deputy in an interview with Power 360.

To be able to convene the Congress session, according to the rules, it will be necessary to collect the signatures of a simple majority (50% + 1) of the deputies and senators.

The LDO 2024 rapporteur reinforced that the analysis of President Lula’s vetoes needs to be done immediately in the plenary and hence the need to “speed up the session.” The schedule is planning, it provides security and predictability. Having a plan is good for the government because it disciplines itself and the country has predictability”, said Forte.

The deputy from Ceará also criticized the breach of agreement by the federal government. “We created a budget law agreed with the government. Of the 35 vetoes [do presidente], 32 had been agreed with the government, he himself had committed to these points. The government just didn’t agree with the amendment schedule and committee amendments. It’s bad for the relationship between the powers and the credibility of government leaders who work in the Legislature,” he said.

Finally, the deputy mentioned that the deadline for the session is the first half of March and he will carry out a “very strong mobilization” to make it happen within that deadline. “If the date is not established by the first half of March, we will mobilize very strongly for this. The regulatory deadlines begin to interfere from April onwards. 6 months before the elections restrictions begin. And we have calendar measures depending on the process electoral calendar. It cannot cause budget execution to be hampered by the electoral calendar”, he declared.

The LDO project was approved by Congress on December 22, with a record value of R$53 billion for parliamentary amendments and R$4.9 billion for the electoral fund. The new law was sanctioned by Lula and published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) on January 2nd.

Among Lula’s vetoes, which were determined after hearing the Ministry of Finance and Planning, is the determination of payment from the Union to federated entities in the first half of 2024, for the areas of health and social assistance. In justifying the veto, the president said that the determination increases “rigidity in budgetary and financial management and makes the management of public finances more difficult”.

The allocation of resources for “the construction and maintenance of state and municipal roads and road works intended for the integration of transport modes or productive flow” was also vetoed.

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