Hidden chamber authored R$1.3 billion in amendments and affronted STF, says report

The Chamber of Deputies concealed the authorship of the indication of R$1.3 billion in committee amendments, repeating the logic of the "secret budget", in defiance of the determinations of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), says a report by Transparência Brasil.

A study conducted by the entity analyzed 16,600 indications for amendments last year, which totaled R$11.7 billion considering the entire Congress. The conclusion was: seven Chamber benches allocated 16% of the total in the name of party leaders, without identifying those responsible for the nominations. When questioned by email, the Chamber's advisors did not respond.

Of the total amount, R$3.8 billion comes from the Senate and R$7.9 billion from the Chamber. The Upper House informs the authoring parliamentarian for the committee amendments.

These "leadership amendments", as Transparência Brasil called it, were operated by PP, União Brasil, Republicans, PL, Avante, Podemos and Solidariedade.

"The findings of this study demonstrate that a high degree of opacity still persists regarding commission amendments and that, among these resources, the appointments linked to leadership operate with a logic similar to the extinct secret budget", says the report.

The STF judged the secret budget unconstitutional in 2022, as the use of rapporteur amendments by congressmen became known. According to Transparência Brasil, from then until 2025, the volume paid in commission amendments grew 68 times.

The practice continues in 2026. According to partial data downloaded in May, R$373.8 million has already been registered with party leaders. With the exception of Solidariedade, all parties identified last year continue to adopt the model. The PT also started to adopt it.

Today, parliamentary amendments are divided into individual (RP6), bench (RP7) and committee (RP8). The first two are mandatory, that is, the federal government is obliged to allocate the resource. Commission amendments are not mandatory, but, due to political agreements, they end up being paid for.

Transparência Brasil also identified a distribution pattern: resources were concentrated on beneficiaries in one or two states depending on the bench, and the remainder was spread across other entities. This suggests that the final nomination is made by several deputies from the party, from different regions of the country, with chiefs appropriating greater volumes.

The Health Commission concentrated the largest volume of amendments, with R$818 million in 808 indications spread across municipal funds. Then come the commissions for Tourism (R$163 million), Sports (R$134 million), National Integration and Regional Development (R$102.5 million) and Urban Development (R$43 million).

The Health Commission is usually the largest main proponent of commission amendments due to the 50% minimum of amendments for the sector, but it is also the one that concentrates the largest number of so-called leadership amendments.

Transparência Brasil is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 with a focus on public transparency, accountability and combating corruption.

The NGO defends the suspension of payments for amendments and the extinction of the practice. It also demands the publication of minutes and spreadsheets of bench meetings referring to the 2025 and 2026 nominations, documents that were not located by the entity nor upon request via the Access to Information Law.

It also recommends the creation of a unique identifier for each nomination by parliamentarians for committee amendments and registration, by committees, of all their nominations for amendments in the federal system, individualizing the desired final beneficiary.

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