Parliamentary Amendments: The Hijacking of Politics, by Fernanda Pernasetti
From IPPUR Bulletin #92, December 2025.
Professor Fernanda Pernasetti presents a brief synthesis article based on material published in November in the journal Saúde em Debate by the Interinstitutional Research Group Futures of Social Protection – Center for Strategic Studies of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (CEE-Fiocruz).
The work analyzes the implications of the growing centrality of parliamentary amendments in the Brazilian public budget, with emphasis on their repercussions for the political system, the federal pact, and health policies. It demonstrates that the current model weakens the state’s capacity to steer public policies, deepens regional inequalities, and threatens the democratic principles of budgetary policy.
Parliamentary amendments are often presented as the main mechanism through which deputies and senators “bring resources” to their electoral constituencies. At first glance, this instrument could represent a legitimate way of balancing power between the Executive and Legislative branches, ensuring that local demands are considered in the formulation of the federal budget. However, recent practice shows that this mechanism has become the epicenter of a structural reconfiguration of the Brazilian political system, promoting the hollowing out of programmatic debate and federal coordination in favor of fragmented and electoral negotiations.
The article published by the Futures of Social Protection research group (CEE-Fiocruz), with the participation of IPPUR/UFRJ professor and researcher Fernanda Pernasetti in the journal Saúde em Debate (vol. 49, no. 147, 2025), shows that parliamentary amendments (PAs), by becoming mandatory and detached from governmental planning, have profoundly altered the balance between branches of government and the way essential public policies are financed, particularly in the health sector. The phenomenon has not only redefined the relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches but has also produced structural effects on the Unified Health System (SUS), the federal pact, and democratic governability.
Read the full article here.
