Deputy will leave as main legacies the approval of the tax reform and the tensions around the distribution of amendments
About to leave the command of the home low in 1º February 2025, the deputy (PP-AL) exercised power with iron hand. Considered as a “tractor”He starred in disputes with the Supreme Court (STF), the Planalto and even with colleagues from Congress. Made your successor, (Republicans-PB), and captured the articulation of the country’s most important economic reform since the Real Plan: the new tax regime, whose transition rules will be valid from 2026.
As soon as it took over in 2021, Lira the value of rapporteur amendments – known as “secret budget”. It weakened the executive’s bargaining power by placing in the hands of the congressmen the right to decide the destination of billions of reais. There was an institutional battle that reached the apex in late 2024, when the STF minister, Flávio Dino, imposed a defeat on the current mayor to the transfers of the funds.
Also during his terms, Lira was beaten by investigations that targeted cases of corruption involving her name. The most emblematic was that of whose evidence was By STF’s Dean Minister Gilmar Mendes in August 2023. Before that, in 2015, the Supreme Court had already acquitted the accusation of domestic violence against his ex-wife, Jullyene Lins.
Now the deputy returns to “factory floor”As you often say. With no paint on the pen, but still with a lot of influence, it will try to climb the high house step in the next elections in 2026. in the 2024 municipal elections that their power in the main electoral colleges of Alagoas –Maceió, Arapiraca and Rio Largo – rival and even surpasses, as in the state capital, that of his regional, the senator (MDB-AL).
With the plateau, the largest legacy
It was thanks to the articulation of Arthur Lira – not the government of (PT) -, which a (Constitutional Amendment Proposal) of the tax reform and the From the old to the new regime were approved. The episodes ended a stage that had been dragging on about 40 years ago in Brazil.
Lira personally worked to enable what was regarded as unfeasible by the Lula administration in early 2023: the unification of taxes and the creation of an VAT (Value Added Tax) in the midst of a fratricidal fiscal dispute between federative entities.
The congressman entered the field and led the sewing process of a large agreement that involved the farm, the congress, the states, the municipalities, the Faria Lima and the large business groups around the proposal. In the end, he stated that it was not the best renovation, but as much as possible.
To approve PEC, Lira avoided making public criticism to what he considered errors inserted in the Senate bill. He worked behind the scenes so that only excerpts were excluded, without adding new items. In the regulation, he did the same: After the text returns from the Senate with the expansion of tax benefits, he chased the withdrawal along with the rapporteur (PT-MG).
With the Senate, the biggest clash
With combative style, Lira has collected conflicts. Came to that Lula’s Minister of Institutional Relations, (For), it was “incompetent”And planted“fake news”About Congress. Already with Renan, he exchanged barbs in the X (former Twitter) about a dispute he waged with the president of the Senate, (PSD-MG).
In 2023, Lira and Pacheco regarding the functioning of the mixed committees in Congress. The deputy already signaled to the government that he preferred that Planalto proposals would be sent in bills, a format that provides more freedom to the House for the debate. In turn, the senator defended the functioning of the mixed committees.
The Constitution states that all provisional measure is analyzed by a commission composed of 12 senators and 12 deputies before going to the House plenary and then the Senate.
At the beginning of the pandemic, because of sanitary restrictions, the STF allowed the congress to jump the stage of the mixed committees In the MP analysis while the COVID-19 sanitary emergency lasted.
The change increased the power of the mayor on the legislative agenda of the government, since, in this regime, it is exclusively for him to choose the rapporteur of provisional measures and guide them to vote.
Pacheco commanded in February 2023 meeting of the House Director Committee that approved a draft act with the House for the resumption of mixed MP committees.
However, Lira the act and lose the power conquered with the rite adopted in the pandemic. With this, the decision of the Senate summit was never valid.
Since this moment, Senate leaders and political articulators of President Lula’s government have tried to sew a solution with the House to unlock the processing of provisional measures.
On March 23, the conflict between Senate and House had another episode. Pacheco the installation of commissions to analyze MPs. Lira, who wanted to modify the process, that there was truculence on the part of the Senate.
With the STF, the biggest defeat
It was with Rosa Weber (already retired Minister of the STF) and Flávio Dino that Lira found brakes that limited her power. The distribution of amendments was the target of the rigor of the 2 STF ministers.
Lira had the disgust to see the rapporteur amendments by the Supreme Court in December 2022. The vote of the rapporteur, Rosa Weber, was followed by Edson Fachin, Luiz Fux, Luis Roberto Barroso, Cármen Lúcia and Ricardo Lewandowski.
Already in August 2024, Dino the imposing amendments. He claimed lack of transparency and traceability. The episode caused an institutional crisis, as transfers “lubrificamThe gears of power in Brasilia.
In search of the release of resources, Congress articulated a to regulate the practice. The text was sanctioned, even after the Senate consultancy prepared a technical note in which it said that the bill did not meet “”Of the STF requirements.
Already in December 2024, after articulating another great victory for the Lula government, the approval of the spending cut package, the Planalto with rules to release R $ 6.4 billion in amendments to senators and deputies such as “reward”To the effort of Congress to meet the wishes of the farm.
A “pedalada legalFrom the government, which aimed to circumvent the determination of the blockade of resources by Flávio Dino, was prevented by the minister. It was determined that the payment of commission amendments would be conditioned only to the identification of the requested.
Lira then coordinated the preparation of a letter signed by 17 party leaders to release billions in commission amendments, which are usually proposed by permanent commission of the House or Senate.
The PSOL came in with a Writ of Mandamus in the STF. He said there were irregularities in the way the release of resources was approved. On December 23, in response to the party’s request, Dino again suspended the distribution of commission amendments.
In an unprecedented feat, the PF to determine irregularities still in the indication phase of the funds.
MOTTA IN LEME, Elmar to Deriva
In one that defined the direction of the future of the Chamber of the House, Lira gave up supporting her personal friend and ally, (União Brasil-BA), who suffered resistance within the PT of Bahia, in favor of Hugo Motta. After the turnaround, Elmar had “lost your best friend“.
Republican leader in the House, Motta gained momentum after the deputy and president of the acronym, (Republicans-SP), giving up the candidacy to get a name with less resistance, which united all spectra -Do PL, party from, to PT. The Congressman He built a party arc of party alliances that reaches 495 deputies so far.
By sitting in the chair, Motta will inherit from Lira an expensive election to the pockets: the amnesty to the January 8 extremists, who invaded and vandalized the headquarters of the three powers. Although the current president said that the elections for the change of command of the House and the amnesty do not mix, Motta knows that he will have to reconcile the pressures of the two largest benches of the house, the PL and the PT.