Lula reaches 2026 with pending electoral measures - 01/04/2026 - Politics - News Room USA

The government () reaches 2026 with measures from its electoral package pending in Congress after one amid the pressure of the upcoming dispute.

The government base managed to approve in 2025 the exemption for those who receive up to R$5,000, but other projects that would serve as showcases in the next election were not implemented.

The list includes public security proposals, an issue that is at the top of voters’ concerns and in which the left seeks to gain ground — this is the case of the Anti-Faction bill.

Other measures with popular appeal, such as , the regulation of app workers and , also did not reach an outcome in the Legislature and are government priorities for the first half of the year.

A with a clash already contracted by the government in Parliament. In 2026, work in Congress tends to be shortened by the electoral period, which also contaminates the legislative agenda, reducing the centrão’s chances of support for the PT’s agenda.

Despite seeing obstacles in the approval of the electoral package, PT and government leaders say they are optimistic and assess that the outcome of 2025 was positive.

“We are going to start the month of January with the great impact for people, which is the exemption from Income Tax. And we are going to enter with two very strong agendas, the end of the 6×1 scale and the zero tariff. […] These are issues that have to do with people’s real lives”, said the PT leader (RJ).

He states, however, that the government’s strategy for 2026 is to activate Congress as little as possible to avoid .

“It’s an election year, we won’t want to activate Parliament so much. But we don’t have much illusion that we will have more maneuvers to approve projects of all kinds. We will only send extremely necessary projects here, because the electoral environment will be taking over.”

In any case, the government leader in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), states that it is “much calmer than it has been in the last five months” and says he expects that a base will be created with at least 257 votes.

To do this, it is necessary for parties in the center that occupy ministries to hand over to the government the votes of at least part of their benches – this was the one of the year. Guimarães mentions the hair as a sign of recomposition of the base.

The deputy stated that, of the pending electoral package, the government expected that two matters would have been approved in 2025: the PEC for Security and the MP (provisional measure) for Gás do Povo.

Guimarães minimized the impact of the postponement, stating that the MP only expires in February and that the PEC needs to be discussed. The differences between the left and the right, and changes in the texts ended up delaying the vote — especially in , whose rapporteur was the opponent (PP-SP).

“Although it is a government priority, there was no agreement on the text [da PEC]. Voting on a measure like this without finding out would not be advisable. [O PL Antifacção] was left until next year to give time to evaluate”, he said.

At the end of 2025, the president of , (-PB), stated that the beginning of the year. Guimarães says that the theme is central. Regarding the zero tariff, he makes the reservation that it is relevant, but depends on the economic impact.

For Lindbergh, these government issues, if decided on in 2025, would dominate the debate, which would harm the vote on economic agendas. “The government’s logic was to rush with the approval of the Budget […]. Now, these themes are more than a priority. It’s time to return in the first week of February to this debate.”

In the final stretch of the legislative year, the government prioritized, when agreeing its agenda with the leadership of the Chamber and the Council, measures for, such as, regulation of tax reform and — all of which were approved. As a result, electoral impact initiatives took a backseat.

Deputies from the base remember that in addition to the Income Tax, the government managed to vote against any of these projects would have a high political cost, since each one benefits around 15 million Brazilians.

Another flag of the government and the PT is the so-called BBB taxation (bets, banks and billionaires), which gave rise to, accused of protecting the rich and being the enemy of the people.

This agenda advanced in the last days of the year, to the surprise of even government officials given the strong lobby against it. The was approved on the 17th. The higher charge for the so-called super-rich was approved in November, in the same project as the IR exemption.

On the other hand, the series of defeats by the PT administration in Congress in 2025 included the (Tax on Financial Operations), vetoes on environmental licensing and , and the approval of , da and do.