Lula will resort to urgent projects to dribble fight over MPs

Faced with the arm-wrestling between the Chamber and the Senate over the processing of Provisional Measures (MPs), the Planalto Palace intends to resort to the mechanism for editing urgent bills to advance its proposals in Congress. The assessment of PT members is that the dispute between the presidents of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), and of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), ended up spilling directly into the powers of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ( PT).

The issue of a provisional measure became an alternative for Lula in the face of the lack of a majority within the National Congress at the beginning of his government. Unlike the bill, which needs to be approved before going into effect, MPs come into effect from their publication by the Executive, but need to be analyzed by Congress within 120 days.

However, given the understanding that some MPs edited by Lula run the risk of losing their validity, members of the government already admit that the edition of MPs should become an exceptionality within the Planalto. The assessment is that while the stalemate between the two Houses lasts, if Lula really has to use the measure for some urgent issue, he will have to negotiate with Arthur Lira to forward the proposal.

Until then, the expectation is that Lula will start forwarding proposals that would normally be edited via a provisional measure through urgent bills of law. With this strategy, Lula manages to skip several stages for the processing of a proposal within the Chamber and the Senate.

The emergency regime is provided for in the Constitution and can be used by the Chief Executive whenever necessary. The urgency regime even provides that if the Chamber and the Senate do not manifest themselves on the urgent project of the Presidency, it will lock the agenda of the two Houses. That is, it has priority over all other matters being discussed in the National Congress.

Government will test emergency regime with Lula’s MPs in the coming weeks

The alternative of the emergency regime started to be discussed by the Palácio do Planalto after Pacheco and Lira demonstrated difficulties in understanding each other about the processing of the MPs. In the articulation, the government reached an agreement so that four of the 13 provisional measures already made by Lula are voted by the constitutional rite, with mixed commissions of deputies and senators.

With that, the Planalto Palace already has the green light for the government restructuring MP; Bolsa Familia; of Minha Casa, Minha Vida and the MP that resumed federal taxation on fuels. The expectation is that the first mixed committee will be installed this Tuesday (4).

The decision is part of an agreement between the leader of the government in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), with Arthur Lira. The president of the Chamber said that even without agreeing with the joint commissions, he will contribute to debating provisional measures that are important for the functioning of the country.

Another nine edited MPs would be transformed into urgent bills and sent back to Congress. “Eventually, if there is, in this discussion process, an alternative for some of the projects, not to have 12 joint commissions installed at the same time, if there is an alternative to transform some of these themes into a bill of constitutional urgency, we are also willing to do so “, said the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha.

Lira wants more deputies in the commissions that analyze the MP

Last Thursday (30), the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, said that the House will not accept a request to increase the number of deputies in the commissions that analyze the provisional measures. According to the constitutional model, the joint commissions have 12 deputies and 12 senators, but the mayor, Arthur Lira, argues that the Chamber would be “underrepresented” by the model.

“Only the four or five largest parties in the House will always have members in the joint commissions, the others will not, never had”, stated Lira.

On the other hand, Pacheco stated that the change would bring an imbalance between the two Houses. “I believe that this specific point is a point of difficult construction and agreement. The Senate does not agree with this amendment that unbalances bicameralism”, he highlighted.

Privately, members of the government assess that the deadlock in Congress should continue for the next few months. The expectation is that an agreement will only be possible if the Senate starts to give in, as the Chamber has already done. The government supporters, however, defend that Lula should not be directly involved in the issue, to avoid friction with either side.

New party bloc will give Lula breath inside the Chamber

The strategy to transform proposals that would be edited through a provisional measure into projects with an urgent regime gained strength after the PSD and MDB parties closed the largest party block in the Chamber with Republicans, Podemos and PSC. The block will be composed of 142 deputies.

The government supporters’ assessment is that the bloc will give greater impetus to building a base for Lula within the Chamber. The expectation of Lula’s allies is that the urgent projects are negotiated and approved more easily by the deputies.

The block will be led by government deputy Fábio Macedo (Podemos-MA), who is close to the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino.

Despite this, the block of parties must not hand over all the votes of the parties involved to the government. That’s because he has names in opposition to the PT, including deputy Deltan Dallangol (Podemos-PR). Planalto allies, however, believe that the scenario favors negotiations to approve agendas of interest to the Executive within the House.