Overview

• Lawmakers convene at 10 a.m. on Oct. 16 for a joint session to decide 63 vetoes to the new licensing law, with the 2026 budget guidelines vote pushed to next week at the government’s request.
• President Lula blocked 63 of roughly 400 provisions, including use of self‑declaratory licensing for medium‑impact projects, a single‑phase special license, looser rules for the Mata Atlântica, and curtailed consultation with Indigenous and quilombola bodies.
• The ruralist caucus, led by the Frente Parlamentar da Agropecuária with 300‑plus members, is mobilizing to fully overturn the vetoes it calls essential.
• Tensions escalated after Congress rejected an IOF tax measure, creating an estimated R$17 billion gap, followed by a Planalto‑ordered reshuffle at Caixa that reviewed at least 11 vice‑presidencies and removed appointees from PP, PSD, MDB, PL and Republicanos.
• The government’s floor leader says the Planalto will insist on keeping the vetoes while advancing a bill and a provisional measure to define rules and create a Special Environmental License that preserves all licensing phases.