Brazil: restructuring of ministries is approved by the House of Representatives

By Aline Rechman and Camila Abrão

The House of Representatives approved, on Wednesday night (31), the provisional measure (MP) of the restructuring of ministries of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The score was 337 votes in favor, 125 against the text, and one abstention.

The MP 1154/23 still needs to be approved by the Senate not to expire.

The deadline for this vote ends this Thursday, June 1st.

Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) suspended the House session earlier in the evening.

Pacheco said he could vote on the text on Thursday morning, depending on when the parliamentarians finish analyzing the issue.

The basic text was approved in the House at around 11:10 pm, and then the parliamentarians began to deliberate on proposed amendments to the proposition, which occurred until 0:30 am.

The plenary rejected three amendments presented by the Liberal Party (PL).

The first one provided for the extinction of the Ministry of Agrarian Development.

This vote scored 324 against the amendment, 114 in favor, and one abstention.

The second amendment aimed to change the scope of the Ministry of Human Rights and remove the Ministry’s competencies concerning the so-called minorities.

The score was 260 votes against the amendment, 186 in favor, and two abstentions.

The third PL amendment intended to remove the word “gender” from the text and replace it with “sex”. This amendment was also rejected.

There were 243 votes against the amendment, 182 in favor, and two abstentions.

In a symbolic vote, they also approved an amendment to the recreation of the National Health Foundation (Funasa).

NEGOTIATIONS AND VOTING IN THE SENATE

Given the length of the debates in the House, Pacheco left the session scheduled for this Thursday (1) at 9 am to vote on this provisional measure.

“If the House can consider today [Wednesday] in the next few hours, we can consider the MP today, which expires tomorrow.”

“If it is not possible, this presidency will suspend this session to continue either today or tomorrow, at 9 am,” said the president of the Senate.

The approval of the MP in both houses will guarantee the maintenance of the 37 ministries of the current federal government structure, even with changes in some agencies.

Despite the emptying of ministries such as the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, interlocutors of the federal government evaluate that the negotiated text is not ideal but defend the importance of the approval of the matter.

According to Congressman Lindbergh Farias (PT-RJ), the non-approval would be a “disaster”.

The Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, said the rapporteur, Representative Isnaldo Bulhões Jr made the changes.

In tonight’s session, before the vote on the basic text, the representatives approved the rapporteur’s opinion by understanding the constitutional assumptions of the MP with 319 votes in favor, 111 against, and one abstention.

At the risk of not being approved, the vote on the MP was even postponed on Tuesday night (30) when the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), realized that the attempt could be frustrating.

Throughout the day, the government and its leaders sought to talk to parliamentarians to ensure the approval of the proposal to restructure ministries.

Lira also talked to Lula about voting on the matter.

With information from Gazeta do Povo

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