President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sanctioned this Thursday (1st) the 2026 Budget and vetoed section that would increase the Party Fund.
Approved by the National Congress in December last year, the 2026 Annual Budget Law has a surplus of R$34.5 billion and prediction of R$61 billion for parliamentary amendments.
The section vetoed by the president deals with a change in the correction calculation of the amounts allocated to the Party Fund. These funds are allocated to the parties’ daily expenses.
The National Congress’ proposal was to adapt the readjustment of the calculation to the rules of the fiscal framework, which allow an increase of up to 2.5% per year, in addition to inflation. According to legislative technicians, .
In justifying the veto, the government stated that the change goes against the public interest as the increase in the value of the fund “reduces the amount allocated to the payment of other Electoral Justice expenses”.
“The legislative proposal is unconstitutional because, by linking the amount of Party Fund expenses to the real growth in revenue from previous years, the device would promote the growth of these expenses at a level higher than the growth of the primary expense limits”he completed.
Lula also vetoed the payment of so-called “remainder to pay” in the parliamentary amendments. The text approved by the Legislative Branch provided for the payment of amendments that had not been paid from 2019 to 2023.
The sanctioned text also foresees an increase in Electoral Fundused to finance electoral campaigns of candidates for elections, for 2026. While the government’s original proposal provided for the amount of R$ 1 billionthe final project approved by parliamentarians .
Two Lula government social programs received cuts. Compared to the initial project sent by the Executive, the program Gas Aid he had reduction in about R$300 millionwhile the . There is also a reduction in social security benefits for R$6.2 billion.
The Budget’s general rapporteur also promoted cuts to unemployment insurance, amounting to R$391 millionand the salary bonus, reducing R$207 million. There were also cuts in resources allocated to higher education scholarships.
