Brazil’s government has reserved R$44.8 billion (roughly USD 8 billion at recent rates) for congressional amendments in its proposed 2027 budget, submitted on August 31. The money covers individual amendments and those assigned to state congressional caucuses.
The amount is R$4 billion higher than the R$40.8 billion initially included in the 2026 budget proposal. The current 2026 budget sets aside R$49.9 billion after lawmakers redirected part of the executive branch’s spending to add so-called committee amendments.
How Congress Can Expand It
The executive proposal includes only the two categories whose execution is mandatory: individual amendments and state-caucus amendments. Committee amendments are not mandatory, but a law enacted as part of an agreement between Congress, the government and Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) limits them to R$12.9 billion in 2027.
During the budget’s review, lawmakers will have to identify which government expenditures should be cut to accommodate additional amendments. In 2026, Congress reduced allocations for social programs and public spending, including Previdência, Brazil’s public pension system; Pé-de-Meia, an education savings program; and Auxílio Gás, a subsidy for cooking gas.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vetoed R$400 million in congressional allocations and moved another R$7 billion to other budget lines. Those changes reduced the total to the current R$49.9 billion.
Election-Year Pressure
Lula has criticized the system, which gives lawmakers control over a significant share of public spending, but his administration accelerated the release of amendment funds before the 2026 election period. According to single-source reporting by Folha de S.Paulo, the government paid R$32.5 billion in amendments between January and June—30% more than during the same period in 2022, when the previous record was set.
The pace was partly driven by a new congressional payment calendar. It required the executive branch to formally commit 65% of the available funds during the first half of the year. A formal commitment reserves money for future payment but does not necessarily mean the funds have already been disbursed.
Legal and Constitutional Rules
Brazil’s Constitution reserves 2% of the previous year’s net current revenue for individual amendments: 1.55 percentage points for members of the Chamber of Deputies and 0.45 points for senators. State-caucus amendments can receive up to 1% of the previous year’s revenue.
Under the agreement involving the STF, caucus amendments will instead be updated under Brazil’s fiscal framework, which allows inflation plus real growth of up to 2.5%. Committee amendments, initially set at R$11.5 billion in 2025, are adjusted annually for inflation.
The system remains the subject of a case before the STF, where Justice Flávio Dino has been the rapporteur. In August, Dino voided amendments whose allocation had been influenced by party leaders or people without elected mandates. The decision followed allegations involving Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party (PL), and former lawmaker Eduardo Cunha. Both had their assets frozen in a separate decision in July.
The dispute dates back to Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, when then-Chief Justice Rosa Weber barred “rapporteur amendments” that had allowed congressional leaders to determine the destination of billions of reais in public funds.