The Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, said this Tuesday (4th) in Brasília that the government closed an agreement with Congress for the installation of joint commissions to analyze four provisional measures (MPs) sent by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. da Silva. In total, the government has 12 MPs due by the beginning of August in the queue for evaluation by parliamentarians.
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 concluded.
As already announced by Congress, it should be installed next week the commission which will analyze the ministerial restructuring of the new government, which now has 31 ministries and six bodies with ministry status linked to the Presidency of the Republic. The MP’s deadline has already been extended and it needs to be voted on by the joint committee and by the plenary sessions of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate by June 1st. If this does not happen by the date, it will lose its validity.
According to Padilha, other MPs that will have the commission installed are those dealing with changes in the Administrative Board of Tax Appeals (CARF)of the new Bolsa Familia and the new My home, my life.
The minister explained that, in order to speed up the approval of the content of the other MPs, parliamentarians may present amendments to incorporate their content into those that will be under analysis by the joint committee. In this case, according to Padilha, they will be for measures that have similar content
As an example, the MP for the extinction of the National Health Foundation (Funasa) can be incorporated into the one dealing with the restructuring of the government. In the case of the MP that creates the gas voucher, its content may be included as an amendment in the text of the new Bolsa Família.
Other MPs with different content and that cannot be incorporated should be transformed into urgent bills, which have a faster processing, such as the MP for the reencumbrance of fuels.
According to the minister, however, parliamentarians are interested in debating some topics such as the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the new Mais Médicos program. In this case, mixed committees must be installed.
“When you create a commission, you expand the possibility of more parliamentarians participating in this debate”, he explained. “We are going to work to install more urgently those that expire until the month of June. Both the MP for the new Mais Médicos and the Food Acquisition Program expire only in August, but we are going to install [as comissões mistas] still in the month of April”, he noted.
By rearranging some of the MPs as amendments or as urgent projects, the government’s expectation is to reduce the number of necessary commissions, from 12 to about seven. And thus, ensure the approval of the content of the measures within the necessary time frame.
deadlock
The agreement to set up the commissions takes place amid the dispute between 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), on the resumption of work of the joint committees that analyze the provisional measures before the vote in plenary.
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.
In March, Pacheco held a meeting of leaders in the Senate and decided that the joint commissions will be resumed to analyze the MPs sent by the government. According to the president, the rule is foreseen in the Constitution.
On the other hand, Arthur Lira defends a change in the composition of the collegiate bodies. For him, the analysis committees 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) through 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.
First session
The government’s concern is to approve the measures on time so that they do not expire. “These instruments [emendas e projetos de urgência] will ensure that we can keep the vote, put the joint committees to work, due to the number of parliamentarians they involve, and at the same time, maintain the priority calendar for the government”, he said, citing, for example, the new fiscal framework.
Minister Alexandre Padilha also said that, after the Easter holiday, the government should submit a proposal for the new fiscal framework, which will replace the spending ceiling, and the expectation is that the rapporteur will also be defined by the president of the Chamber to start the procedure.
This month also takes place the first session of the National Congress, when the budget reallocation bill that guarantees the readjustment of public servants should be voted, in addition to analyzing vetoes to projects made by former president Jair Bolsonaro.
