Brazil's President Michel Temer attends a ceremony with Brazilian Lower House's President Rodrigo Maia in Brain Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress, Rodrigo Maia, said on Monday that two new charges against President Michel Temer in a corruption case should be considered together when they reach the floor of the chamber on Tuesday.

Brazil’s congress has the authority to decide whether the president should stand trial at the Supreme Court on charges of obstruction of justice and racketeering. Separation of the charges would dash Temer’s hopes of his allies quickly rejecting the accusations and returning to his reform agenda.