Even with all the developments reported in the media, there are still many doubts about the subject and few know exactly what the secret budget is and how it works. The measure was created by the Executive Branch as a way to obtain political support from Parliament and distribute public funds through parliamentary amendments. In the current government, this was the solution found to exempt the President of the Republic from having to account for certain amounts.
The amount allocated to the secret budget was determined at the beginning of 2020, through an agreement between the Federal Government and the National Congress, however, the total amount of the amount may south africa mobile database change from one year to the next, as well as the sectors that will be covered. In 2021, the amount allocated to the secret budget was R$16 billion. And, although these amounts are provided for in the General Budget of the Union , it was the lack of transparency regarding the transfer of parliamentary amendments that gave rise to the term “secret budget”.
The Legislature claims that there is an intention to eliminate the measure, or at least reduce its use. However, the leaders of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate have already indicated that they have no plans to suspend the secret budget and that, in fact, the release of parliamentary amendments should remain for future governments, even under different leaderships.
And how are the amendments defined?
Amendments are defined as proposals where parliamentarians can express their opinions and influence the allocation of public resources based on the political commitments they made during their term in office, with states, municipalities or institutions. In other words, it is a mechanism to direct where public money and electoral capital go.
Amendments can be individual, group or committee amendments. In the individual model, each parliamentarian decides where to allocate the money and the amount is divided equally among the deputies. Group amendments are collective amendments, drafted by deputies from the same state or region. Finally, committee amendments are collective amendments from permanent committees of the Chamber or Senate.
In 2019, Congress approved the creation of a new type of amendment, called a rapporteur amendment. It allows the identification of the budgetary body, the action that will be developed, and also the beneficiary of the funds. However, the representative who indicated where the funds should be allocated remains hidden. In this way, the amount is transferred representing the figure of the rapporteur, which may vary from year to year. In this case, information about how the negotiations occurred is compromised, a fact that can contribute to the purchase of votes from congressmen for projects of interest to the government and to the diversion of resources.