Pacheco says it is not possible to accept Lira’s proposal – 03/30/2023 – Politics

After a meeting between the leaders of the Senate this Thursday morning (30), President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) stated that the proposal by the President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), that the joint committees for consideration of provisional measures had three deputies for each senator.

According to Pacheco, the idea is that the joint commissions to deal with the MPs presented by the Lula government be installed next week.

“No leader supported this idea. So it is not possible for us to agree with this idea of ​​changing the bylaws that establish the same number of senators and deputies in the joint committees, with the exception of the joint budget committee,” he said.

“This specific point I believe is a point of difficult construction and agreement. The Senate does not agree with this amendment that unbalances bicameralism”, he added.

Lira’s proposal to establish a time limit at each stage of the appreciation of the MPs —mixed commission, Chamber and Senate— is seen favorably by senators, who have already claimed this change.

“It is something that we can build, because it is also our thought, to have a deadline in these instances”, he stated.

Pacheco said that he is awaiting the nomination of the parties for the composition of the joint commissions that will consider the MPs sent by the Lula government. If there is no indication, these members will be appointed.

Thus, “the idea” is that they will be installed next week. “In the course of April, we will make a very strong effort to make these joint commissions work,” he said.

According to him, the conversion of some provisional measures into bills depends on the government. Pacheco, however, stated that the stories will advance regardless of the format. “That’s the path of the Constitution.”

The leader of the government in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), said that the provisional measure that changed the Carf is one of the priorities, as it helps to create the necessary economic structure for the functioning of the new fiscal framework.

“We are still ready to install four mixed commissions”, said Randolfe, implying that at least part of the other MPs can be converted into bills.

The four would be the restructuring of ministries, that of Bolsa Família, Minha Casa, Minha Vida and Carf.

“The government has as an alternative under discussion both with the House and the Senate that some of these provisional measures can be transformed into a bill of constitutional urgency, because the processing is faster and it would not need the mixed commission for that”, said the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha.

“The government encourages this joint construction so that no one is defeated. It has not been defeated, there is no one who has benefited, not benefited. We are going to install the joint commissions, the leader of the government in Congress is working on that”, he added.

The main point of disagreement with Lira’s proposal is the proportion of having three deputies for each senator in the joint commissions. The idea was presented to Pacheco at a meeting between the two last Tuesday (28).

“One thing I would like to point out is that, in the joint committees, the parity of 12 senators and 12 deputies has existed for more than two decades,” said the president of the Senate, after the meeting.

He also stated that the parity is “not quantitative, but qualitative, with equal weight between the two Houses” and highlighted that the Senate “wants the agreement to strictly obey the Federal Constitution”.

In the midst of the impasse between the two Houses, seven MPs have been stopped in Congress for over 50 days.

The rite of appreciation of provisional measures was provisionally changed in 2020, with the reduction of activities in Congress amid the Covid pandemic.

During this period, the joint commissions were suspended and the measures were initially appreciated by the Chamber and then passed to the Senate. With that, Lira started to control the pace of processing and the appointment of rapporteurs.

As this whole rite, by law, has 120 days to happen, senators complained that, in practice, deputies spent almost all this time to deliberate on MPs and left a small window for the second House to work.

In February of this year, with the beginning of the new legislative period, Pacheco defined the return of the joint commissions to debate the measures, as provided for in the Constitution. The change, however, did not please Lira and federal deputies from the centrão.

The president of the Chamber refused to sign the decision along with the president of the Senate and even stated, on Friday (24th), that the joint committees would not move “one millimeter”. Afterwards, he withdrew and, last Monday (27), took to the Senate the proposal to increase the number of federal deputies and reduce the number of senators and also to stipulate time limits for each stage of the appreciation of the themes.

Meanwhile, the Lula government is mobilizing to get the MPs presented so far approved.

There is special attention to those presented in the first days of 2023 and that need to be appreciated within 120 days in order not to expire.

The Planalto will define which MPs presented by the Lula government are priorities. They can, if there is no agreement, be analyzed in a joint commission in the rite provided for by the Constitution, as it was before the pandemic.

Some measures can be sent back to Congress through bills to be processed on an urgent basis. Government advisers have already warned, however, that at least four of them could not follow this procedure – such as those of the Bolsa Família and Minha Casa, Minha Vida programs, and the one that created ministries.

Other MPs, such as the one that resumed the Food Acquisition Program, are also being evaluated.