The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will veto or block additional amendments approved at the last minute by the National Congress in the 2026 budget.
The goal is to replenish the budget for social policies that were the target of hacking by parliamentarians, who redirected resources to actions that interested them for the next election year.
The amount transferred by members of Congress, without agreement with the Executive, could reach 11.5 billion reais. The exact extent of the change is not yet known, as the rapporteur, MP Isnaldo Bulhões (MDB-AL), made a series of last-minute additions and cancellations.
In the documents, changes appear with a series of codes used to identify government and agency actions. This system normally makes it possible to organize the Budget, but can also serve as a curtain for maneuvers carried out by parliamentarians.
According to a government member, there is still no decision on how much of the 11.5 billion reais will be vetoed or blocked. The Executive will use different instruments, depending on the case identified.
A first line of defense will be Complementary Law 210, which formalized the agreement between the Government, Congress and the STF (Federal Supreme Court) regarding the execution of parliamentary amendments, after questions about the lack of transparency in the use of resources.
The rule sets a maximum limit on funds allocated to deputies and senators. It also prohibits the cancellation of discretionary Executive spending — used to finance financing and investment contracts, called “RP2” in budget jargon — to redirect funds to other actions with a specific location or beneficiary.
According to the law, the limit in 2026 will be R$26.6 billion for individual amendments, R$15.2 billion for amendments in the chamber (of which R$4 billion was reallocated to the electoral fund) and R$12.1 billion for committee amendments.
The order within the government is to determine whether members of Congress have inserted actions with a specific recipient or location in values above these limits. If identified, funding will be vetoed when the budget is approved by President Lula, which is expected to happen in early January.
A second possibility is to block the execution of the funds inserted by the legislators in the form of additional amendments, then send an appropriation request to Congress to reallocate the money to actions in the interest of the government. In practice, this instrument could reverse most changes.
Part of it can be carried out by the Executive itself, thanks to the system which immediately authorizes a relocation of up to 30% of approved expenditure – the rapporteur has even considered a lower percentage, 10%, which would limit the action of the economic team. However, beyond this amount, it will be necessary to obtain parliamentary approval.
The economic team can also give preference to the actions indicated by parliamentarians within the framework of RP2 in possible blockages or unforeseen circumstances required by budgetary rules. In these cases, blocking is necessary to compensate for the increase in mandatory expenditure without exceeding the limit of the fiscal framework, while contingency is adopted in cases of frustration in revenue collection.
A final option would be to actually execute the funds reallocated by Congress, but this will only happen if the actions also reflect the priorities of the Executive Branch, explains one technician.
As shown Leafthe budget rapporteur cut 436 million reais from the Pé-de-Meia program, which provides scholarships to encourage students to stay in high school. The stock had already lost an additional BRL 105.5 million during the processing of the 2026 accounts at the CMO (Joint Budget Committee). Thus, the reserved resources increased from R$12 billion to R$11.46 billion.
Isnaldo received an additional 300.7 million reais from the Auxílio Gás dos Brasileiros program, which pays low-income families the equivalent of a 13kg bottle of cooking gas.
The policy had also already lost resources in the CMO’s sectoral reports. In the final balance, the reserved amount increased from R$5.1 billion to R$4.73 billion.
There were also reductions of BRL 391.2 million in unemployment insurance, BRL 262 million in Capes (Coordination for the Development of Higher Education Personnel) subsidies, BRL 207 million in salary bonuses and BRL 72 million in CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) subsidies.
In the area of social security, the rapporteur reduced the amount allocated to benefits by 6.2 billion reais. With this change, the reserved resources increased from R$1,134 trillion to R$1,128 trillion.
According to technicians interviewed by Leafthis reduction occurred because the government revised the projection of the INPC, an inflation indicator that refers in the correction of the minimum wage. The problem is that the Executive indicated the actions for which resources should be reallocated, which was not followed by parliamentarians.
In the opinion of one of the people interviewed, the programs indicated by the government were “ripped off” during the Budget vote. A recomposition will therefore be necessary.
About The Author
