This Content Is Only For Subscribers
To unlock this content, subscribe to INTERLIRA Reports.
On Thursday (30/03), Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco announced that the Senate will not accept a request made by Federal Chamber President Arthur Lira (PP) to increase the number of deputies in the commissions that analyze the provisional measures (MPs). Even though the dispute involves the Congress, this could bring negative consequences to the government.
Delay in Important Projects
The dispute for power between the Senate and the Chamber is delaying the progress of important projects for the current government in the National Congress. If the impasse is not solved, there is a risk that relevant measures, such as the new structure of ministries and the return of Bolsa Família, will be annulled.
The problem lies in the progress of provisional measures (MPs) edited by the Executive Branch. An MP is the way in which the government can immediately adopt actions that would have to be approved by Congress. However, provisional measures are valid only up to 120 days. If an MP is not approved by the Congress within that period, it simply loses validity.
The Standoff
Before the pandemic, to be approved by the Congress, the MPs had to be analyzed by commissions that are made up of 12 members from each house. But this rite was changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the commissions were suspended, and provisional measures began to be analyzed directly by the Chamber. This gave extra power to Lira.
However, now that the Congress has already returned to its normal routine, the Chamber resists resuming the previous rite of provisional measures. Lira claims that since the Chamber has 513 deputies and the Senate, only 83 senators, the composition of the commissions should be proportional.
For his turn, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco has refused the idea. For him, it would unbalance the bicameralism.
The Government’s Solution
If Lira and Pacheco do not reach an understanding in the coming days regarding the rite to be adopted for the processing of provisional measures, the government intends to transform almost all MPs into bills with constitutional urgency.
