Opposition lawmakers side with Bolsonaro to keep grant money a secret

This Monday, Brazil’s Congress passed a resolution aimed at giving “more transparency” to an opaque form of budgetary grants dished out to federal lawmakers. The so-called rapporteur-designated grants consist of portions of the budget allocated to specific politicians, on request, for projects in their constituencies. As the identity of the grants’ recipients is not disclosed to the public, the mechanism works as an effective pork-barreling tool for the heads of Congress to whip up support for legislation they hope to approve. 

Crucially, the new resolution does not foresee the disclosure of the names of lawmakers who received these grants until now, which disregards a recent Supreme Court decision to reveal the destination of all grant recipients.

The Senate passed the resolution by a razor-thin 34-32 margin. Heads of Congress successfully whipped two crucial votes from the opposition — a surprise result, given that the budgetary grant scheme traditionally favors...