Escalating feud between Brazil’s Chamber and Senate presidents over competing bills

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco recently publicly criticized the Chamber of Deputies for having retrieved points removed by the Senate from Provisional Measure 1040 that simplifies the opening of companies.

When being processed in the Senate, Pacheco rejected points he deemed extraneous to the text, which the Chamber had included in a first vote.

When the text returned to the Chamber of Deputies, Chamber President Arthur Lira retrieved all provisions rejected by the Senate and sent the original text to president Jair Bolsonaro.

Given that the head of the Senate is the head of Congress, Pacheco decided to take a drastic measure. He sent a letter to Jair Bolsonaro in which he alerts the president that the Chamber “violated the principle of separation of powers and the democratic principle” by ignoring the Senate’s changes.

“When the Chamber of Deputies submitted for sanction matters that were rejected by the Federal Senate it violated the principle of separation of powers and the democratic principle, because the Conversion Bill contains matters extraneous to the original text of Provisional Measure no. 1.040/2021, and also because they were not subject to deliberation on its substance by the Federal Senate,” Pacheco wrote.

“In view of the violations to the constitutional legislative due process, it is hereby requested that the president of the Federal Senate’s decision rejecting extraneous issues to the original text of Provisional Measure no. 1.040/2021 be considered, and, consequently for the same to not be considered for purposes of sanction or veto or, alternatively, vetoed for its unconstitutionality,” the president of Congress continued.

By officially alerting Bolsonaro to the case, Pacheco takes a practical step towards taking the issue to the Federal Supreme Court (STF). He also places Bolsonaro in a dilemma: keep what Lira did or attend to the head of the Legislative branch? According to Pacheco, Bolsonaro should ignore the text sent by the Chamber and sanction the Senate’s text. Otherwise, the dispute will reach the Supreme Court.

Pacheco had said that he would take action because he considered the Chamber’s move in bypassing the Senate to be “an improper and unacceptable procedure that undermines the legislative process and the sovereignty, independence, and autonomy of institutions.”