Pacheco contradicts Lira and wants parity to analyze MPs – 03/28/2023 – Power

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), said this Tuesday (28) that he will take the proposal of the Chamber of Deputies to the leaders for the analysis of provisional measures (MPs), but he defended an equal number of federal deputies and senators.

“I want to leave the leaders very comfortable for this assessment of proportionality, but one thing I would like to emphasize is that, in the joint commissions, the parity of 12 senators and 12 deputies has existed for more than two decades,” he said.

“And it works like this for a very simple reason: this parity is not quantitative, it is qualitative, with equal weight between the two Houses”, he added, noting that the Senate “wants the agreement to strictly obey the Federal Constitution”.

After saying on Friday (24) that the joint committees would not walk “one millimeter” in the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) went back on Monday (27) and took to the Senate the proposal to increase the number of federal deputies and reduce that of senators.

The new proposal adopted by the president of the Chamber is to compose the mixed commissions with three federal deputies for each senator and set a deadline for analysis —currently there are 12 parliamentarians from each House.

Pacheco met alone with Lira this Tuesday and, later, with government leaders in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), and in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP).

After the meeting, Randolfe said that the conversation between Pacheco and Lira “was very productive” and that the government and Congress are “very close to that solution”.

With the increasingly tight deadline for approval (which is 120 days), the government intends to send bills on an urgent basis to replace provisional measures that had already been edited.

“It is urgent that at least some provisional measures have already been installed in the joint commissions. And others, even for practical reasons, in order not to have losses for the government, bills of law could be presented on an urgent basis”, said Randolfe.

One of Lula’s MPs awaiting approval is the one that restructured it and created ministries, such as Indigenous Peoples and Culture. Another text awaited by the government is the one that establishes the casting vote in CARF (Administrative Council of Financial Resources).

Like other proposals sent by Lula in January, the two MPs have been stalled in Congress for over 50 days. Other essential programs for the Planalto Palace, such as Bolsa Família and Minha Casa, Minha Vida, were also recreated via a provisional measure.

Pacheco congratulated the federal deputies for their “understanding” around the need to maintain the provisional measures —as mandated by the Constitution—, and said that there is no dispute over power or prerogatives between the Chamber and the Senate.

“Here I must also give my recognition to the mayor, Arthur Lira, who in these two years he sought, in fact, to give that time to the Senate for appreciation”, Pacheco told journalists after meeting with Lira.

“But this cannot be left to the discretion of the president of the Senate, the president of the Chamber. It would be very good if there were a rule to stipulate time for the joint commissions, for the Chamber of Deputies, for the Senate.”