Lula’s MP renews Senate criticism of House rites – 06/04/2023 – Power

The less than 24 hours that the Senate had to consider the MP (provisional measure) from President Lula’s Esplanada dos Ministérios (PT) rekindled criticism of the Chamber of Deputies in processing this type of text.

After long negotiations between the centrão and the government, federal deputies began to appreciate the text of the provisional measure on Wednesday night (31), and only ended at dawn on Thursday (1st).

As the MP needed to be voted on at the latest by 11:59 pm on Thursday, senators complained that they were unable to even read the text, much less propose amendments – which would require the proposal to be returned to the deputies and, inevitably, expired.

After a long impasse over the rite of processing the MPs, the complaints resurrected the discussions about the analysis time for each of the Houses.

“We were squeezed by time. It was not our will, but I say that life is how it presents itself and, therefore, there is not much to report”, concluded the leader of the government in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA ), rapporteur of the MP of Ministries, during the vote.

“Senator Jaques Wagner read the report? senator Izalci Lucas (DF).

Members of Lula’s allied base are critical of the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), who, according to them, delays the debate in order to have control over the outcome of the provisional measures.

The opposition, on the other hand, repeats the argument, but adds that the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), is omitting himself in the face of the dispute, which creates conditions for Lira’s excesses.

“The abuse of power by the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies generates this distortion where the Senate does not have time to be able to collaborate in the construction of texts for provisional measures. This happened in the four years that I have been here”, says Senator Alessandro Vieira (PSDB -SE).

“It is necessary that, in addition to the mixed commission, I have respect for the bicameral system. I have to have time for the plenary sessions to vote, I cannot leave it for the last day of the term. Either Congress will resolve this, or it will be necessary to trigger the Justice again,” he added.

Vieira even triggered the STF (Federal Supreme Court) at the beginning of the current legislature after Lira refused to sign the act that reestablished the traditional procedure for provisional measures, which had been suspended during the pandemic.

When published by the government, an MP becomes effective immediately, but has 120 days to be approved by Congress or “lapses” (loses its effect).

The Constitution determines that the text pass through a commission formed by federal deputies and senators. During the period of the health emergency, however, MPs began to be considered directly in plenary – first in the Chamber and then in the Senate.

Allies of Pacheco claim that the short time the Senate had to consider the Esplanada provisional measure is explained, first, by the impasse regarding the procedure at the beginning of the Legislature and, later, by the crisis between the Lula government and the centrão, which delayed the start of voting in the Chamber —and they say that the senators were contemplated in the debate thanks to the initial mixed commission.

The situation, however, should be repeated in the coming days with the MP voting that resumed the Minha Casa Minha Vida housing program. The text expires on the 14th, a Wednesday, and the vote in the Senate is scheduled for the week of the 11th.

Pacheco appeared by surprise at the mixed commission, made up of senators and deputies, after the approval of the text, on Friday, and gave a speech to defend the current rite of processing MPs.

Known for his conciliatory profile, the President of the Senate relativizes the lack of time for senators, says that Lira, in general, has sent texts with longer deadlines to the Senate and avoids criticism of the Chamber.

Questioned by the press on the subject on Wednesday, the senator joked that journalists wanted to extract a controversial statement from him.

“It’s always good to have more time, it’s good to have time for the joint committee, for the Chamber and for the Senate. But sometimes the best is the enemy of the good, so we have to be satisfied with the current situation, which arrived at the last day of the term to vote in the Senate”, he said, the next day.

“But I repeat my full confidence in the work of the joint commission, which has precisely this purpose, to deepen [o debate sobre] the provisional measure. It is much better to have a mixed commission than to take [o texto] directly to the plenary,” he added.