Lira and allies react to the suspension of the rapporteur’s amendments and behind the scenes speak of ‘war’ with STF

Minutes after the STF (Supreme Federal Court) formed a majority of 6 to 0 to suspend the payment of amendments from the rapporteur to congressmen, the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), called allies and told them to prepare for the war, as reported by deputies to sheet.

Irritated by the court’s determination, Lira indicated that he could adopt an idea defended by allies, of guiding projects that could retaliate against the court. According to leaders of the center, the decision of the STF configures the interference of one Power in the other, which cannot be tolerated, in their assessment.

This was even one of the arguments used by Lira in conversations with ministers of the Supreme this week in an effort to prevent the court from maintaining the blockade on the payment of amendments from rapporteurs to parliamentarians.

Despite the mayor’s first reaction, government interlocutors intend to act as firefighters and avoid a new institutional crisis. The justification is that the Planalto must be able to approve the PEC of the Precatório and can easily review the imbroglio created by the decision of the Supreme Court.

The rapporteur’s amendment is a type of amendment that was included in the 2020 Budget by Congress, which now has control of almost twice the budget of previous years.

Currently, it is the main exchange currency, distributed by government officials such as Lira, in important votes in Congress. The money available this year is R$ 16.8 billion.

The fact that the president of the Chamber spoke with the president of the Supreme Court, Luiz Fux, and other magistrates, and the attempt was in vain, increased Lira’s irritation, assess allies.

Deputies promise to sit down to structure an agenda of projects that impose defeats on the court. A parliamentarian to sheet in reserve that a cut in the Budget available to the Judiciary must be evaluated.

The 2022 Budget will still begin to be analyzed by the Legislature.

The narrative of the center’s leaders is that the STF’s decision constitutes a symbolic defeat, because there are some options on the table that can recover the function of the amendments.

First, deputies say, the money that the management of resources that are in the hands of the Budget rapporteur should be transferred to the government, which will continue to manage the money as it currently does — based on political negotiations.

For that, it would be enough to change the classification of the budget. Today they are stamped as amendments (by reporter). According to deputies and technicians, the money could be transferred to the same code used for expenses for the operation of the public machine.

Lira’s allies say they will still sit down to discuss which proposals could come to be guided with the intention of impacting the Supreme Court.

But one of the threats made by lawmakers is to limit the court’s Budget, which will still be analyzed by Parliament.

In addition, there are other projects that can disrupt the court. At least two proposals that impact the STF’s powers are being processed by the CCJ (Committee on Constitution and Justice).

One of them limits the monocratic precautionary decisions —which provisionally anticipate the effect of the request until judgment on the merits— in the ADIs and ADPFs. The suggestion is to make explicit in the law that deals with these actions that precautionary measures need the approval of the absolute majority of the Supreme Court ministers.

Another bill seeks to limit the role of the Supreme Court’s “legislator” by prohibiting the analysis of actions on issues that have been processed in Congress, in any of its phases, in the Chamber or in the Senate, for the period corresponding to the last five years.

STF members tried to articulate behind the scenes this week to prevent the court from totally banning the payment of rapporteur amendments and picking up a direct fight with Congress and the Executive. The plan failed.

Since last year, Palácio do Planalto and allies, mainly Lira, have used the resources of rapporteur amendments to privilege political allies and, with that, expand their support base in the Legislative.

There is no public database with the list of deputies and senators benefiting from this political negotiation, nor is there open information on the destination of public money.