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Brazil Sets Record for 2025 Congressional Earmark Payments as 2026 Budget Boosts Allocations

Most of the money flowed through constitutionally mandated channels, underscoring Congress’s heightened grip on budget execution.

Overview

  • The government paid R$31.538 billion in 2025, the highest nominal total on record and equal to 67% of that year’s committed amendments.
  • Nearly the entire 2025 earmark envelope was committed, with R$47 billion obligated out of R$48.5 billion authorized, leaving unpaid commitments to be settled later.
  • Payments totaled R$19.9 billion for individual amendments, R$6.3 billion for state-bench amendments, and R$5.3 billion for commission amendments, with 83.1% going to impositive categories.
  • Disbursements accelerated at year-end, including R$1.53 billion in the Christmas week, a pace attributed to a political agreement that Chamber Speaker Hugo Motta said was pushed by minister Gleisi Hoffmann.
  • Across Lula’s first three years, R$127 billion in amendments were committed versus R$83.7 billion authorized in Bolsonaro’s first three, and the 2026 budget projects R$61 billion for new earmarks.