Arthur Lira says he will “never” support “bomb agendas”, but defends greater participation of parliamentarians in the Budget

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), stated this Thursday that the House will not sponsor any “bomb agenda”, as proposals with the power to wreak havoc on public accounts have become known, but assessed that vetoes presidential elections to budget projects must be overturned by Congress.

Lira also considered, in an interview with GloboNews, that the search for space and decision-making power in relation to the execution of the Budget between the Legislative and Executive will not end. One of the budget vetoes concerns precisely the application of more than 5 billion reais in parliamentary amendments.

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“Never has the Chamber — nor the President of the Chamber — caused any impactful material or bombshell issue during these 3 years or so… and it won’t”, declared the deputy in the interview.

Claiming to be “predictable” in relation to responsibility for economic proposals, Lira also said that he will “never” put bomb agendas to a vote.

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This does not mean, however, that parliamentarians will stop advocating for greater participation in the Budget, he admitted.

“It is logical that every move to search for space, I said, that this discussion between the Executive and Legislative in relation to the Budget will never end”, he added, stating that the Legislative “cannot be the rubber stamp of a budget piece, because if that were the case, , (the Executive) did not need to send it to Congress”.

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According to him, the trend today, based on what he has measured in terms of temperature among bench leaders, is for Congress to overturn vetoes on amendments. Congress is expected to hold a joint session the week of May 7 to analyze a series of vetoes, as the government works to avoid legislative measures with a fiscal impact.

The deputy also recalled the pressure that the October elections put on deputies to allocate resources to the bases in the form of parliamentary amendments.

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“It’s a fact, there’s no way we can hide it, we’re in an election year. The mayors will squeeze the deputies, who will squeeze the leaders, which will be left for me, the plenary and the government”, he stated.

Amid the discussion about budget execution and the correlation of forces between the Executive and Legislative branches, Lira once again spoke about semi-presidentialism, a regime he openly defends.

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“There are those who defend — as I defend — a system of semi-presidentialism, it is neither today nor yesterday,” he said.

“Coalition (presidentialism), this take-and-go of positions, the occupation of space, the interference of the Executive within the Legislature or vice versa has already given examples of how it doesn’t work.”

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(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Editing by Alexandre Caverni)