Brazil’s Senate approved the main text of the government’s fiscal adjustment bill by 45 votes to 31 on Thursday 12 November 2026, and the opposition leader called it a “pedalada”, an accounting trick. Senator Rogério Marinho, a conservative from the Liberal Party (PL), said the bill sells society an adjustment that is not there.
The bill, PLP 299/2026, still has four contested points to be voted on Tuesday 17 November before it moves to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house. A “pedalada” is Brazilian slang for an accounting move that flatters the public accounts.
What the Bill Does
The Senate’s own news service says the bill lets the government cut spending further to hit the centre of its fiscal target (the annual budget goal), even when the accounts are already inside the tolerance band around it. From 2027, in years when the measures are triggered, the maximum real growth of spending falls from 2.5% to 2% a year.
It also postpones part of the payments owed to states under a compensation deal tied to the Lei Kandir, the law that exempted exports from taxes. From 2027 to 2030 the annual payment falls from R$4 billion to R$1 billion (about US$177 million), and the accumulated difference is repaid by 2037.
The text lets the government subtract up to R$10.5 billion (about US$1.9 billion) of extraordinary diesel-subsidy spending from this year’s fiscal target. It also lets it use up to 40% of leftover earmarked funds (money with a fixed legal purpose) to pay mandatory spending (costs the law requires, such as salaries), with health, education, social security and public security left out.
File photo. Seats in the plenary of Brazil’s Federal Senate, Brasília, 2024. Photo: Boaventuravinicius, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.What Marinho Called a “Pedalada”
Marinho put it this way: “We are talking about a pedalada, a kind of swindle, because society is told that a fiscal adjustment is being made, and there is no fiscal adjustment here.” He also called the delay in Lei Kandir payments a “calote”, a default, on the states.
Senator Eduardo Braga of Amazonas, from the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party, the bill’s rapporteur (the senator who writes the report on it), answered that the bill “does not propose a default” but “fiscal and tax responsibility”.
Why It Matters
The argument is about how much of the 2027 adjustment is saving and how much is delay. The government expects the bill to improve the primary balance (revenue minus spending before debt interest) by R$45.1 billion to R$56.1 billion in 2027.
Marinho said the opposition presented an alternative that, by his own calculations, would yield a fiscal result of R$75 billion without raising taxes or breaking financial commitments. Reais are converted at 5.64 per US dollar, the 12 November close.
The 17 November votes are the next checkpoint for the bill’s 2027 targets.
What Is Not Known
Marinho’s R$75 billion figure is his own calculation, and we have not seen it independently checked. It is not known whether any of the four contested points will change before the bill reaches the Chamber.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is PLP 299/2026?
It is the government’s fiscal adjustment bill. The Senate approved its main text 45 to 31 on 12 November 2026, and four contested points remain.
What is a pedalada fiscal?
It is Brazilian slang for an accounting move that flatters the public accounts. Marinho used the word in criticising the bill.
When is the next Senate vote?
Four contested points are due for a vote on Tuesday 17 November 2026, before the bill goes to the Chamber of Deputies.
Sources: Agência Senado, the Senate’s news agency, report on the vote, 12 Nov 2026; Agência Senado, report on the amendments, 12 Nov 2026; Rádio Senado, the Senate’s radio, report on the vote, 12 Nov 2026. More: Brazil news; Brazil Conservatives Challenge Senate Chief.