Congress emptied since February has been overwhelmed by the Lula government

Brasilia – Chamber and Senate were practically empty last week. The presidents of the two houses-Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), of the House, and David Alcolumbre (Union-AP), from the Senate-traveled abroad. Congress has experienced a kind of “white recess”, which is the term used for informal holidays that parliamentarians usually take in the middle of the year.

Also read: Accounts do not support themselves without compensating exemption from IR, says Marcos Pinto, from the farm

Only testimonials at the BETS Parliamentary Commission (CPI) and the hearing with Pension Minister Wolney Queiroz mobilized the few parliamentarians who were in Brasilia.

Since the beginning of the legislature, in February, there have been a few weeks with full operation of Congress. With this, the guidelines of interest to the Government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Even the economic ones – were stuck. One of the projects awaiting appreciation of parliamentarians is the Income tax exemption For those who earn up to $ 5,000.

“The excess of holidays and this constant absence from the presidents of the House and Senate interfered on the agenda. In addition, there were these clashes about INSS and Amnesty PL, branch, among others,” explains Cristiano Noronha, vice president of Arko Advice, a political consulting firm.

According to Noronha, there is yet another point, “the government clearly has a very small agenda this year. Although Congress is more independent, it is still the executive who dictates the rule. And the government agenda is very modest,” he adds.

For the political consultant and CEO of Consillium, Antonio Augusto de Queiroz, there is another factor that contributes to the apathy of Congress. “The presidents of the two houses have assumed with broad support of the various forces within Parliament, so now they have to balance between these forces,” he explains.

Also read: BETS CPI plans to listen to new influencers: see who’s on the list

Queiroz agrees that there are other factors that reinforce the idea of ​​paralysis, such as the agenda dominated by the PIX and INSS crisis, possible cassation of deputies delegate Ramagem and Glauber Braga, as well as the constant trips of the presidents of the houses.

The political consultant adds that there is a permanent crisis of Parliament with the Supreme, both in relation to amnesty to those responsible for the acts of 8 January and in relation to parliamentary amendments. “Congress attributed to the government disputes that do not directly involve it, such as the decisions of the STF that contradict parliamentarians,” he adds.

Queiroz also states that there is a conflagrated environment. “It is a lot of idea of ​​conspiracy, a lot of dispute and an opposition that dominates social networks with extremely inflamed speech against the system,” says the expert.

INSS CPMI

Analysts agree that the articulations for the INSS CPMI should dominate the agenda in the coming weeks, even cooling the discussions about amnesty for those involved on January 8.

Queiroz believes the INSS CPMI is inevitable. He states that the scandal has almost all credentials in the Bolsonaro government, but exponential growth in the amount of discounts was in the government of President Lula, because it was in this government that new benefits concessions were released.

For Queiroz, there is a perception that there is government paralysis, but reality belies, because it was exactly when investigations began.

Noronha bets that the subject of INSS fraud will continue to reverberate a lot and there will be pressure around the president of Congress, David Alcolumbre (Union-AC), to mark the session to install CPMI.

According to him, INSS frauds have the potential to cause noise. But Noronha believes that the government survives. “The problem is whether it is sequel or not. It will depend a lot on where CPI advances, which has a result. Potentially, it is more likely to wear out the current government than the previous one,” he bets.