Last year, the president of the Chamber, (-PB), and six other deputies concentrated the nomination of R$ 1.5 billion in amendments, a sum distributed by the thematic collegiate bodies of Congress.
The remaining R$6 billion of this type of resource was shared by another 423 deputies, while 83 parliamentarians did not indicate any amount in 2025 officially — they may have been included in the sending of funds in the name of their party leadership.
These funds are suggested to the government by, with an indication of how and where the money should be spent. The Executive has the discretionary power not to execute the resources, but cannot reallocate them to other areas of interest.
These amendments were secret until 2024, without the allocation of funds being disclosed. This changed in 2025, following decisions by the (Supreme Federal Court), which allowed the amounts sent by each parliamentarian to be verified.
The survey carried out by Sheet The minutes of Congress show that this small group of seven politicians has control of a disproportionate share of this budget: a fifth of the total R$7.5 billion transferred by the Chamber committees in 2025 for actions at electoral bases.
The one who, alone, indicated the most commission amendments in 2025 was Julio Arcoverde (PP-PI), with R$244.3 million. He chaired Congress’s CMO (Mixed Budget Committee), responsible for voting on budget bills.
“All were allocated in a legal and transparent manner to the state of Piauí, with investments in infrastructure, health and support for municipalities, generating works and direct benefits for the population, without any irregularity. Thus, deputy Julio Arcoverde fulfills his mission of providing more resources for the economic and social development of Piauí”, he stated in a note from his advisor.
The second is Hugo Motta, with R$180.5 million. Almost half of this amount was transferred to cities whose mayor publicly declared support for the pre-candidacy of Nabor Wanderley, the mayor’s father. When announcing that he would resign from the Mayor of Patos (PB), Nabor told the local press that he hopes to have the support of 150 of the 223 mayors of Paraíba to be elected.
Motta stated that the nomination strictly respects an agreement between the three Powers. “At the party level, the division of the values of the amendments follows the criteria adopted by the leaders, following the number of deputies, and the allocation of resources has as a priority strategic and structuring areas for Brazilian municipalities, such as health and infrastructure”, he said.
Right after Motta is the president of his party, (Republicanos-SP), with R$138.2 million. “Historically, party presidents and leaders end up having a little more resources to nominate. It’s not a particularity of mine,” he stated. He said he has always provided transparency about the funds on his website. “For me, it has never been a secret budget, I make a point of disclosing it.”
The leaders of four political parties (PP, União Brasil, Republicans and PL) are responsible for indicating other values, which total more than R$930 million.
In this case, the format can be used to hide the real sponsor of the budget, since only the name of the party leadership in the Chamber appears, which contradicts the decision of the minister, of the STF, to provide transparency about the real author,
On average, the other more than 400 parliamentarians were able to transfer R$14 million each. The majority of opposition members did not receive resources, with the exception of PL parliamentarians in key positions, such as the presidency of the Health Commission or the leadership of the party. These funds are indicated by Congress, but the decision to pay them is at the discretion of the federal government.
Parliamentarians interviewed on condition of anonymity stated that there was an agreement between party leaders so that each deputy from the base allied with the government could indicate the fate of .
They admit that it was expected that there would be some difference in value, favoring prominent names and political weight, such as collegiate presidents or party leaders, but that this difference should be in the tens of millions.
What the survey reveals, however, is that only a small group of seven deputies, including the president of the Chamber, had the right to indicate more than R$100 million. None of the other more than 400 transferred more than R$80 million.
Deputies interviewed by the report complain that the disparity in the division of amendments is unfair, disrespects the agreement made in the House and favors a group with an amount of money that should be decisive in the 2026 elections. The difference was not immediately noticed, they say, because the voting on the funds took place in a fragmented manner throughout the year, in several committees.
In addition to committee amendments, there are also individual parliamentary amendments, with equal value for all deputies, and from state benches, for structural works and projects.
At the end of 2024, against the lack of transparency and diversion of resources with parliamentary amendments to the Budget. The model emerged with the rapporteur’s amendment and was replicated with the committee’s amendment after the STF declared the first unconstitutional.
The three Powers in which the nominations made by the committees, which until then did not need to reveal the deputy who was the sponsor of the amendment, should now be approved in minutes by the entire collegiate, making it clear who was the author of the nomination and how the funds will be used.
As revealed by SheetHowever, parliamentarians circumvent this determination by signing the authorship in the name of the party leadership itself, not a specific deputy. In 2025, for example, R$1.1 billion was indicated in this way, according to the committee minutes.
In the privileged group with a disproportionately larger share of the resources are four party leaders: from the PP, which distributed around R$358 million in this way; from União Brasil, with R$266 million; from the Republicans of Motta, with R$201 million; and the PL, with R$113 million (amount used by opposition deputies to hide negotiations with the government).
