Brazil’s two legislative chambers are embroiled in a rare open feud after the Senate moved to kill a controversial bill protecting lawmakers from prosecution (which the House passed last week), while simultaneously pressing ahead with an income tax reform. The clash has deepened mistrust between the Senate and the House.
Likened to a real-life Get Out of Jail Free card, the lower house passed the so-called “Impunity Bill” last week by a wide margin, alongside a motion to fast-track an amnesty proposal that would protect Jair Bolsonaro and his acolytes — convicted two weeks ago for an attempted coup following the 2022 election. But lawmakers’ moves provoked public fury, spurring protests in all major Brazilian cities. Many of those in attendance chanted that the House was “an enemy of the people.”
The Senate tried to shield itself from the image crisis. The upper chamber’s Constitution and Justice Committee unanimously rejected the Impunity Bill, with its rapporteur, Senator Alessandro Vieira, saying it stemmed from “fears of jail by crooked politicians.”
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