Congress has over 600 Covid pandemic projects on hold

Half of the bills presented by deputies and senators in 2021 related to Covid-19 were stuck in Congress. Of the 1,311 proposals suggested this year, 652 are still pending in the Chamber or Senate.

Dozens of them provided for measures to contain the virus at the most critical moment of the pandemic, but should remain in the drawer as they lost relevance with the start of vaccination and the drop in the number of cases and deaths.

This is the case, for example, of projects that provided tax exemption for companies that donated vaccines against the disease to the SUS (Unified Health System).

One of them, authored by senator Rodrigo Cunha (PSDB-AL), created the Pró-Vacinas program and provided for income tax deductions for individuals and legal entities that made the donation. The proposal has been on hold at the CAE (Economic Affairs Commission) since April.

In the Chamber, a similar text by deputy Dr. Jaziel (PL-CE) determined tax exemption on the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19 by companies as long as all the immunizing agent was donated to the SUS and destined for the PNI (National Immunization Program).

The idea, however, did not come from the Security and Family Commission.

Still in the field of vaccination, another project that was stalled provided that beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família program —transformed into Auxílio Brasil— could become part of priority groups for immunization.

Presented by senator Eliziane Gama (Cidadania-MA), the proposal was intended to protect the part of the population most affected by the pandemic from the coronavirus.

In order not to lose the more than 600 texts, deputy Carmen Zanotto (Citizenship-SC), rapporteur of the External Commission to Combat Covid, suggests that part of them be used in a kind of Sanitary Code.

“What we need is to make a large text, a text that gives a guideline for fighting pandemics like the one we are experiencing now, that addresses issues ranging from prevention to issues of access to products and also to vaccines,” he said. .

“We already have the knowledge and structure of drafting texts that have already been processed and are being processed, and should be consolidated in a Sanitary Code to fight the pandemic and future pandemics,” he said.

Another destination for the projects that are at a standstill may be the Covid-19 Pandemic Observatory, created by the Senate to monitor the unfolding of Covid’s CPI conclusions.

Senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE), a member of the group, stated that this will be one of the works that will need to be carried out next year.

“This observatory can comb these projects with a fine-tooth comb and manage to sort them out, prioritize some and discard others,” said the senator.

“It is perfectly possible to organize a review of all these projects, discard those that no longer make sense and put to vote those that may still have an impact on the reality we are living in today,” said Costa.

Even without being able to give vent to the projects of his own authorship, political scientist Alexandre Bandeira assesses that the Congress had a positive role in the fight against the pandemic.

He explained that one of the reasons for this number of stalled proposals is the fact that many initiatives are the exclusive competence of the Executive and that, since they are sent via provisional measure most of the time, they demand more urgency and time from Congress.

“There is a regulatory obligation. If the government needs to buy without a bidding process, it needs Congressional approval. It needs credit supplementation to buy vaccines, supplies. It needs the guarantee so that it does not fall into an administrative procedure due to a monocratic decision.” , he said.

“The Congress had a very notorious production. The Executive needed the Congress, sent the projects, which were discussed and became law. A lot was produced, but in a situation of passivity. It received, approved and returned it,” stated Bandeira.

According to the congressional search system, Planalto sent 52 MPs this year that dealt with issues related to the pandemic. In all, 38 had the process closed, another 14 are still under analysis.

Among the initiatives authored by the Executive that were approved are the MP that guaranteed emergency aid in 2021, the one that created exceptional rules for the purchase of vaccines and the one that authorized the public administration to buy, with no need to bid, supplies, goods and services to fight the pandemic.

Congress also stood out with the approval of bills by the parliamentarians themselves, such as the one that prohibited evictions during the pandemic, which facilitated the breaking of patents to produce vaccine and which created alternatives for proof of life before the INSS (National Insurance Institute Social).

Bandeira recalled, however, that the presentation of projects on a topic such as Covid-19 also brings electoral benefits to congressmen.

“The pandemic is also a showcase for the political class, a moment, an opportunity for parliamentarians, in a way, to appear. The production comes a lot in this vein of being an opportunity for the parliamentarian to try to appear,” he said.

The prevailing understanding among congressmen is that Congress has lived up to expectations to help contain the virus. Oppositionists even suggest that without the efforts of the House and Senate the situation would have been worse.

“I think that all that made progress was that Congress did it. The great insufficiency was that it did not open the impeachment of [Jair] Bolsonaro from the crimes of responsibility he did. Crime against life, the questions that the CPI itself points out of improbity, corruption, malfeasance”, said Alexandre Padilha (PT-SP), member of the Social Security and Family Commission.

Covid’s CPI also submitted projects that are waiting to be analyzed. Of the 17 legislative proposals, only 4 were approved in plenary.

One of those waiting to be considered in 2022 suggests a minimum wage pension for orphans from the pandemic. Payment would be retroactive to the date of death and would last until the victims’ children were 21 years old.

Even with the cooling of the pandemic, the expectation of deputies and senators is that the theme will continue to predominate in both Houses.

In addition to considering that issues involving immunization and the vaccination passport will continue to be urgent, the October election should keep more controversial issues, such as administrative reform, away from Congress.