Lira increases commissions in the Chamber to accommodate allies – 02/08/2023 – Politics

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (8) the creation of five new permanent commissions, aiming to contemplate allies of the President of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

Leader of the centrão, Lira was re-elected for another two years in the presidency of the Chamber on the last day 1st with a record of votes. He received 464 out of a total of 508 votes, which makes him the record holder since the country’s redemocratization.

The new commissions were created from the dismemberment of the existing ones —the number grew from 25 to 30 in total.

These are the commissions for the Amazon and for the Original and Traditional Peoples; Health; the Work; Communication; and Economic Development.

Next Tuesday (14), party leaders will meet with Lira to discuss the division of command of the commissions for each party. According to the Chamber’s rules, commissions are distributed according to the size of the benches, with the largest parties having preference in the selection sequence.

In the new legislature, the largest bench is that of the PL, the party of former president Jair Bolsonaro, with 99 parliamentarians. The federation led by the PT, of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has 81 deputies.

The PT negotiated with Lira to guarantee the presidency of the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission), through which all the projects that are processed in the House pass, in the first year of Lula’s government. The most quoted name to take over the commission is that of federal deputy Rui Falcão (PT-SP). PP, PL and Union will rule in the coming years.

The rapporteur for the proposed resolution, deputy Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), told journalists that the creation of the five new commissions will help in the construction of an agreement, next week, for the presidency of the collegiate bodies.

“With this creation of the new commissions, it facilitates the accommodation [das presidências]especially from smaller parties […] Many of them would only have one commission per term, and now they will be able to chair a commission each year, no matter how small a representation they may have, and collaborate with discussions in Parliament,” he said.

The increase in the number of commissions was agreed upon by Arthur Lira during negotiations around the support of smaller acronyms for the reappointment of the progressive to the presidency of the Chamber.

In January, Lira asked deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB) to carry out a study to increase commissions. The official justification was that the Lula government (PT) had increased the number of ministries and the collegiate bodies should serve as a mirror of the Esplanada.

In practice, however, the new composition of the permanent committees makes it easier for Lira to fulfill agreements closed around his re-election, accommodating dwarf parties in prominent positions in the Chamber.