The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said on Monday night (27) that party leaders of the House will present “three or four” text proposals to try to resolve the impasse with the Senate on the processing of Provisional Measures (MPs) in the National Congress. The situation worries the federal government, which fears that its legislative agenda will be blocked. Earlier, Lira met with several leaders at the official residence and, according to him, left with the text possibilities to try to converge the Senate.
“We discussed three or four text possibilities, to propose an understanding that helps Brazil and that the articles have the speed they have had in recent years”, said Lira in an interview with journalists at the Salão Verde da Câmara. For more than 50 days, the President of the Chamber and the President of the Senate Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) have been arm wrestling over the Mps rite.
Among the criteria for reaching an agreement on the rite, Lira wants a change in the composition of the joint committees, so that they have a greater proportion of deputies in relation to senators, as occurs in other committees of the type, such as the Mixed Budget Committee (CMO), composed of 30 deputies and 10 senators.
“If the mixed commission is maintained, not at the level it is today, with 12 to 12, without a deadline, it is very bad, we will not get out of this impasse. The only possibility for the Chamber to admit negotiations, sit down, accept a mixed commission, is that it complies with the rite that other bicameral committees do For example, CMO, 30 deputies and 10 senators National Congress, 513 deputies, 81 senators Joint Parliamentary Investigation Commission (CPMI) has a ratio that has to be obeyed.
Why only the provisional measures a senator have to be valid for 6.5 deputies?”, questioned Lira.
Lira also demanded that the mixed commission, if maintained, have a deadline for analyzing the MPs, which does not exist in the model provided for in the Federal Constitution. This could be done, according to him, through a draft resolution approved both in the House and in the Senate.
Historic
Last week, the President of the Senate decided that the analysis of provisional measures sent by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will again follow the rite provided for in the Federal Constitutionthat is, they will pass through joint committees, collegiate with members of the House and Senate, on an equal basis (same number of members from each House).
Since 2020, to streamline the work of parliamentarians due to the covid-19 pandemic, the analysis of MPs in joint committees has been withdrawn. Thus, provisional measures began to be analyzed directly in plenary – first in the Chamber, for 90 days, and then in the Senate, for 30 days –, with amendments allowed. The Mps, edited by the government, have immediate effect, with the force of law, but need to be approved by Congress within 120 days in order not to lose validity. The measure was justified, at the time, as extremely exceptional due to emergency health measures.
With the decision of the president of Pacheco, the mixed commissions must immediately have the members indicated by the leaders of each House. In each MP analysis, the presidency and the rapporteurship of the collegiate bodies are once again alternated between deputies and senators. The resumption of this voting system is rejected by the Chamber. Today’s statements by Lira aim to get closer to an understanding.
government MPs
If the impasse between the two Houses is not resolved in the short term, Arthur Lira said that the federal government should make an appeal to the National Congress to vote on the previous model for three or four measures considered essential, including the one that reorganizes the Bolsa Família program and the one that defined the ministerial structure of the Lula administration. The other MPs would no longer be analyzed and the government would send a bill with constitutional urgency with the same text.
“In the absence of an agreement, the government made an appeal to the Chamber of Deputies, and should also make to the Federal Senate, that three or four essential Provisional Measures, such as Bolsa Família, [o programa] Minha Casa Minha Vida, the organization of all ministries and we make an exception and indicate the leaders to compose these commissions. And the government, on the other hand, in all other commissions, would send to the Chamber a bill with constitutional urgency to replace ipsis litteris the texts of the MPs, except for these three or four. It is a proposed agreement from the government concerned about not reaching a reasonable agreement [entre Câmara e Senado]”, reported Lira.
previous MPs
Already a set of 13 MPs edited by the previous government are being voted this week in the Chamber of Deputies, to clear the agenda. The voting system for these texts, specifically, still follows the rite adopted during the pandemic. That is, they are going straight to the plenary.
Two of them were voted on this Monday night in the Chamber. One is MP 1142/22, which authorizes the Ministry of Health to extend temporary staff contracts for hospitals in Rio de Janeiro. The MP was approved in the form of a replacement for the rapporteur, deputy Daniel Soranz (PSD-RJ).
According to the text, in addition to the 3,478 contracts for health professionals initially foreseen, another 639 positions that may be filled may be extended, making a total of 4,117 professionals authorized by an interministerial ordinance of 2020. The contract deadline has also changed. Instead of December 1, 2023, it will be December 1, 2024.
The other approved text is Provisional Measure 1149/22, which assigns to Caixa Econômica Federal the administration, from January 1st to December 31st, 2023, of the funds raised with the DPVAT Insurance, in addition to the analysis of requests for indemnities and your payment.
