The explosion of funds from 2020 onwards amounted to more than R$148.9 billion in five years. The increase drained resources from ministries and deputies and senators.
The figure represents more than four times the amount disbursed in parliamentary nominations in the previous cycle, from 2015 to 2019, of R$32.8 billion.
Of the total amount paid in the last five years, around R$74 billion came from the so-called individual amendments, while R$29.5 billion was directed by the state benches, and R$9 billion came from the thematic committees of the Chamber and the .
More than R$36.5 billion in rapporteur amendments were distributed, a modality that became one of the symbols of the distribution of funds sponsored by Congress under low transparency. In 2022, the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
Increased control of the Budget by Congress has made public bodies dependent on parliamentary appointments for routine expenses. The Ministry of Sports, for example, had more than , according to a survey carried out by Sheet.
The amount disbursed since 2020 is still double the R$70 billion invested by federal agencies, in the same period, in actions linked to science and technology, culture, sports and sanitation.
The boom in amendments resulted in the remodeling of federal bodies, such as the (Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e do Parnaíba) and Dnocs (National Department of Works Against Droughts).
Previously dedicated to irrigation projects and reducing inequalities, both turned to distribution through donations of machinery and paving works.
Amendments carried out by the two bodies address possible irregularities. In December, the PF carried out an operation as part of an investigation into an alleged
The Legislative’s progress on the Budget occurred based on a series of changes to the legislation made from 2015 onwards.
Since then, Congress has made the execution of individual amendments and state benches mandatory, created the Pix amendment and guaranteed increasingly larger shares of resources.
The changes became clear from 2020 onwards, when the federal Budget provided R$46.2 billion in amendments, more than triple the R$13.7 billion available in the previous year.
With unprecedented advances, they became the main power tool of deputies and senators in their electoral bases and continued to have importance between Congress and the Executive.
To guarantee the support of parliamentarians, President Lula (PT) created portfolios that serve as channels for the flow of amendments, such as .
During the 2022 electoral campaign, Lula the PT member referred to the distribution of funds with low transparency as “the biggest corruption scheme today”, “secret budget” and “bolsolão”. Allies of his management, however, in bodies that maintained the flow of billions of reais, without pointing out the true godfathers of the funds.
The distribution of funds gained as a new element, in 2024, a series of decisions from the STF, arguing that there was no transparency in the sharing.
Rapporteur of the actions at the Supreme Court, the minister also ordered the opening of audits by the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) on transfers to NGOs and the municipalities most benefited by parliamentarians.
The friction cooled down after the approval of a law and the publication of an ordinance that would comply with the STF’s decisions.
Dino, however, again held back the allocation of part of the amendments in December. He talks about an alleged maneuver by House leaders to rearrange, without transparency, the so-called committee amendments.
For members of the government and Congress, the Supreme Court’s decisions signal uncertainty about the issue.
The destination of the amendments is also the focus of investigations into alleged irregularities that .
A member of the top leadership of the Lula government, the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho (União Brasil-MA), was suspected of embezzling funds indicated for his family. He says investigators created a “narrative.”
In 2023, the STF minister annulled evidence from an investigation into alleged irregularities in the purchase of robotics kits with amendment funds, in the case of the President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The deputy rejects the suspicions.
Lira maintains strong influence over the sharing of commission funds. How to Sheet showed, part of this money was directed to the collegiate bodies by one of the president of the Chamber.
In a note, the Secretariat for Institutional Relations, a department headed by the minister (PT) and which liaises with Congress, said that it is the Executive’s responsibility to execute the Budget Law, while Congress “holds the competence to include amendments”.
The ministry also stated that complementary law 210, sanctioned last November, limits the growth of amendments under the rules of the new fiscal framework and establishes other criteria, such as the “requirement for application to projects of national or regional interest, in the case of amendments to commission”.
