Lirinha peace and love? Government doubles amendments after Lula speaks to Lira

Everything’s solved? Not so much. There were evil things along the way, and they left hurt feelings.

O “Lirinha Paz e Amor” is as scenographic as “Lira bogeyman”. The president of the Chamber changes his costume as easily as he changes his platform. The government only needs to turn off the tap of amendments again to resurrect the old character – or not meet the most parochial demands of the President of the Chamber.

Lula needed to calm Lira personally on Sunday because the political articulation of the Palácio do Planalto, among other things, had passed over Lira’s party in distributing amendments last week. His PP ranked 10th in the ranking of parties that received the most amendment resources between April 15 and 19, despite having the 4th largest bench in the Chamber of Deputies.

The government had prioritized amendments from parliamentarians from PT, PSD and MDB – parties that the government intends to use as a wedge to split Lira’s support base in Congress. The plan is to elect a new president of the Chamber in February who is not Lira’s offspring. Lira knew, but saw an opportunity in the obviousness of the palace maneuver.

He returned from Palácio da Alvorada with the promise of a reward. In the most classic game of “bad cop, good cop”, the ministers bit, Lula blew. And how: the breath amounted to more than half a billion reais in individual amendments from deputies and senators of the PP de Lira. All of this released between Monday and Wednesday.

Peace and love: Lira unlocked the economic agenda of interest to the government in the Chamber and even made a public “mea culpa”. But politics is like a cloud, said the miner. Change in an instant.