Politics

How Brazilian Congress changed the balance of power in Brasília

The return in force under the current government of opaque budgetary grants for lawmakers has given Congress unprecedented power — that will last beyond this legislature

congress House Speaker Arthur Lira (left) and Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco. Photo: Zeca Ribeiro/CD
House Speaker Arthur Lira (left) and Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco. Photo: Zeca Ribeiro/CD

For decades, the political agenda in the Brazilian Congress was flooded with proposals from the Executive branch — meaning that lawmakers would essentially rubberstamp the work of the president du jour. But that has changed since Jair Bolsonaro came to power in 2019 without a coalition to call his own. 

This new arrangement pushed Congress to the forefront of politics like never before.

The lack of a network of supporting parties meant Mr. Bolsonaro’s administration struggled mightily to get anything approved in its first years, per the Brazilian Legislative Observatory. Moreover, the pandemic meant that the agenda was dominated by votes on emergency measures that took precedence over the president’s agenda.

After losing popularity, Mr. Bolsonaro chose to ally himself with a group known as the “Big Center” — a loose federation of ideologically-fluid parties ready to support any government in exchange for more control over the public purse. Arguably more than any of his predecessors, Mr. Bolsonaro yielded power over his own administration to the Big Center.

The most evident facet of that arrangement is the “rapporteur-designated budgetary grants” — or, as the press nicknamed them, the “secret budget.” 

This consists of an informal and opaque (although not illegal) mechanism allowing...

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