Budget earmarks challenge Brazil’s historic institutional balance

Congressional budget earmarks are central to the functioning of Brazilian politics. If in the past they were given a secondary role, merely as grease to help the gears of the Executive and Legislative branches turn in sync, today they are one of the main variables in the country’s political governance model, shifting the axis of power to Congress and allowing members of the House and Senate to consolidate key real estate on the country’s political chessboard. 

Without delving into the issue of corruption — a problem with which these earmarks have always been associated — they now have a systemic function that structures the national decision-making process and the design of public policies. They are cause tension between the country’s main political factions, as House Speaker Arthur Lira pointed out in his speech at the opening of the legislative year in February: “It is fundamental to remember that our Constitution guarantees the Legislative branch the right to discuss, modify, amend, and only then approve the budget that comes from the Executive branch.”

Unpredicted by any academic model of government systems, budget earmarks have come to the fore as a result of the practical evolution of Brazilian democracy in recent years, and have created a state of affairs that is difficult to change — even though President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seems determined to regain control of funds and restore the old system of coalition presidentialism. 

Budgetary earmarks appear in the literature as one of the elements that governments use to build a congressional support base in highly fragmented and poorly disciplined party systems. Although it has always been the right of every member of Congress to receive portions of the budget to take home to his or her constituency, in reality only those who were aligned with the administration actually received that money. 

The practical effect of budget control was overwhelming. The rate of legislative dominance — that is, the percentage of government bills approved by Congress — exceeded 90 percent during...