Brazil’s Congress on Tuesday created three joint committees on provisional decrees, in a defeat for House Speaker Arthur Lira.
Provisional measures enacted by the president have the force of law but must be voted on by Congress within 120 days, failing which they expire. If lawmakers vote against the decree or allow it to expire, the government cannot reissue an identical decree within the same legislative semester.
Since taking office on January 1, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has issued 16 provisional decrees, most of which will expire by late June or early August if not analyzed by lawmakers. These include policies that are major flagships of the current and previous Lula administrations, such as the Bolsa Família cash stipend program and a housing program — as well as texts on the very structure of Lula’s cabinet.
In March 2020, Congress changed the procedure for approving decrees, a response to the pandemic — these legislative texts bypassed the joint committees and were sent directly to a House floor vote as a first step. This gave the House (and by extension, its speaker) more leverage, by giving it more...
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