Lula creates group to reformulate Funasa – 07/13/2023 – Politics

President Lula (PT) created a group composed of members of the government and deputies to discuss the new design of Funasa (National Health Foundation).

There is a clash between the Civil House and the centrão regarding the future of the organ. Minister Rui Costa (Casa Civil) and allies defend that it be lean and linked to the Ministry of Cities. The leader of the government, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), and PT leaders recommend that it be maintained at its current size, as a sign of respect for the National Congress.

The center, which asked the Planalto Palace to control the foundation, wants it to stay with the Ministry of Health. In the view of the political group led by the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the portfolio would be able to execute parliamentary amendments more quickly, since, in Health, the execution follows a differentiated rite.

It will be up to the commission to define which ministry Funasa will respond to. The ordinance that creates the group to debate the organ’s recreation model should be published this Friday (14th) and is expected to complete the work by August 14th.

At the beginning of the year, the president issued an MP (provisional measure) to abolish Funasa. Congress, however, decided to reverse the president’s decision, which is now at an impasse.

The extinction already generated internal divergences in the PT. The president of the acronym, Gleisi Hoffmann, and the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, did not agree with the end of the body.

While the commission works to define the structure, Lula decided that the body will enter into negotiations with the centrão to try to expand the base in Congress.

The creation of the group was agreed upon with deputy Danilo Forte (União Brasil-CE), former president of the autarchy, deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB) and senators Hiran Gonçalves (PP-RR) and Daniella Ribeiro (PSD-PB ).

To meet requests from parliamentarians, the government also decided that it will extend agreements to prevent municipalities from losing more than R$ 1.2 billion in expenses provided for in contracts that expire this month.

The extension should be valid until the end of the year. Thus, city halls ensure that they receive this money from Funasa to complete the projects.

A technical argument presented by members of the government’s political wing to try to place Funasa in the Ministry of Health is that Complementary Law 141 includes sanitation services in the basic health bill – the minimum provided for in the Constitution for application in the area.

Members of another wing of the Planalto Palace say that the law that reorganizes the Esplanada dos Ministérios defines in its article 20 that “promotion of actions and programs of urbanization, housing and basic and environmental sanitation, including the rural zone” are jurisdiction of the Ministry of Cities. Therefore, they claim, Funasa should be under this folder.

According to government allies, minister Nísia Trindade (Health) herself has said she prefers that the body be under the supervision of another ministry. But she has been convinced otherwise.

The government intensified negotiations with parliamentarians this week after senators threatened to approve a PDL (draft legislative decree) that reviews the acts that the government prepared to extinguish Funasa, including the transfer of servers to other portfolios.

The first meeting to address the issue took place on Tuesday and the government wanted to prevent the text from being discussed this Wednesday (12) in the Senate. As the solution did not come out, the Senate ended up approving the urgency of the PDL, which irritated members of the government.

This Thursday (13), in a meeting with Padilha, the leader of the government in Congress and deputy Danilo Forte (União Brasil-CE) it was decided to publish ordinances to extend the term of the agreements already signed by Funasa with the Union and also the interministerial commission.

As shown to Sheetthe government intended to recreate Funasa with a lower budget than it had in the Bolsonaro government and with fewer attributions.

The recreation of the organ itself will have a negative impact on other ministries that were recreated by Lula, say members of the government. This is because these folders counted on being able to use the commissioned positions that would be left vacant with the extinction of the body.

There is strong pressure from parliamentarians, however, for the body to be restructured along the old lines.