This Tuesday (11), the National Congress installed joint commissions that will analyze Provisional Measures edited by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The installation takes place in the midst of the dispute between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate over the rite of procedure of the commissions. The installed commissions are the result of agreement of deputies and senators.
Collegiates were installed that will analyze the provisional measures dealing with the new Bolsa Família (MP 1.164/2023), the new Minha Casa Minha Vida (MP 1.162/2023) and the restructuring of the Executive Branch bodies (MP 1.154/2023).
The MP for ministerial restructuring, which now has 31 ministries and six bodies with ministry status linked to the Presidency of the Republic, had an extended deadline and needs to be voted on by the joint committee and by the plenary sessions of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate by June 1 . If this does not happen by the date, it will lose its validity.
In total, the government has 12 MPs due by early August.
MPs have the force of law, that is, they come into force immediately when they are sent by the President of the Republic for analysis by the National Congress. The period of effectiveness is 60 days, and may be extended for an equal period if the vote in the House and Senate has not been completed.
In addition to the installation, presidents and rapporteurs of the commissions were defined.
The MP commission for Bolsa Família will be chaired by Senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES). The MP commission of Minha Casa Minha Vida will have Senator Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM) as chairman and rapporteur, Deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL-SP). Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) was chosen to chair the MP commission for ministerial restructuring, with deputy Isnaldo Bulhões (MDB-AL) reporting.
deadlock
For weeks now, the President of the Senate and the National Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), have been fighting a battle over the resumption of the joint committees that analyze the provisional measures before of the plenary vote.
In March 2020, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, a joint act by the Chamber and the Senate made the rules for processing provisional measures more flexible, which began to be voted directly by the plenary sessions of the two Houses and no longer pass through the committees, integrated by 13 deputies and 13 senators.
This year, Pacheco held a meeting of leaders in the Senate and decided that the joint commissions will be resumed to analyze the PMs sent by the government, according to the rule provided for in the Constitution.
On the other hand, Arthur Lira defends a change in the composition of the collegiate bodies. For him, the analysis commissions of MPs must have the participation of more deputies in relation to senators, as occurs in others. However, the proposal was not accepted by leaders in the Senate.
The matter was brought before the Federal Supreme Court (STF) by means of a writ of mandamus filed by Senator Alessandro Vieira (PSDB-SE) against the President of the Chamber. According to the parliamentarian, maintaining the model of direct voting by the plenary gives extraordinary powers to Lira, who, according to Vieira, can define the rapporteurs of the MPs and send the matter to the Senate on the eve of the expiry date.
* With information from the Senate Agency
