Ciro. Yes, we'll be talking about Ciro today. He, who was a Lula supporter until recently - in fact, he's gone on record calling Bolsonaro a fascist - but who has recently converted to "Bolsonarism".
Yes, I mean Ciro. . .
Nogueira. Enough controversy! Today's show is about Ciro Nogueira.
Ciro Nogueira was a PT ally once, but currently leads Bolsonaro's Civil House. And I especially like Ciro's 2018 electoral TV spot. You see that bridge?
Yes, I am! That was Ciro, 111. Piauí's senator!
And that pavement? That was Senator Ciro Nogueira! And that new well?
And that school over there? That was Ciro, 111, Piauí's senator! Wow, really?
What about that plaza, Magali? That was Ciro, 111, Piauí's senator! I love that he shows off the things Ciro built.
. . "See that bridge?
See that school? " But they only show drawings. Not a single real bridge to show off, Ciro?
Not a single real plaza? Apparently not! And there shouldn't be.
Because senators don't build bridges. Only love can build indestructible bridges! In all seriousness, building bridges or plazas isn't a senator's duty.
That's monitoring and controlling the executive branch. That's why the ad only shows Power Point clipart, because that's the only bridge a senator can make. But controlling the executive branch doesn't tend to get one many votes.
It'd make no sense for a campaign ad to go, "Who was it that monitored and reigned in the executive branch? Senator Ciro! " That'd get zero votes.
Now, building bridges and plazas? That gets votes. Even if they go unrepaired later, or if the bridge is superfluous, or if it's overpriced.
Construction projects win votes. And because of it, congressmen and senators like Ciro Nogueira found a way to carry out their own projects their own way, especially close to election times. And we'll be talking about that, this "give and take" scheme that's been keeping the Congress in Bolsonaro's hands, and that will most likely reelect a good chunk of it in 2022: the secret budget.
Warning: this is one of the most scandalous scandals we've ever talked about in this show. Seriously, our team was dumbfounded through it all. "This can't be real", we said.
And we were also saddened that it wouldn't go as viral as previous shows. Because it's way TOO scandalous. It doesn't involve beef.
"Starting beef", that is. For that, our topic'd need to be conflictive. It would need to split people in the middle, have two clashing positions - plus, some sort of power symmetry between the parties.
Bolsonaro thrashing a reporter, for instance, isn't beef - it's aggression. Putin fighting Zelensky isn't beef. .
. it's just war. "Beef" involves a split.
It divides people, forces people to pick a side. . .
which is why they go viral on social media. Because every new opinion about the beef creates new beef, feeding into the beef ecosystem. You have beef detectives, who investigate what's behind all the hints being thrown.
You have beef delivery guys, who picks the detectives' intel and take it to the one being thrown hints, and so beef reignites. You have beef monitors, who remind you we should really be starting beef over something else! In other words, there are always many people pounding that beef.
But the thing about this online ecosystem is that many things end up not going viral, simply because they aren't beef, even if they are outrageous. In fact, especially so. Because when everyone agrees that it's an outrage, then there's no beef.
And currently, few things are as outrageous as the secret budget. We can thrash the secret budget, but it won't do a react calling me a hobbit. No ruckus, you know?
So. . .
why talk about the secret budget? We can drag it good, and it won't accuse me of religious intolerance. Won't go on about the "feelings of the Christianity of the Brazilian people!
" The secret budget won't ask me to debate it on a Friday night. And most important - if Bolsonaro wins, the secret budget won't take a plane to Paris. It will remain among us.
And that's tragic! Which is why we'll be talking about it. But what exactly is that scandal, with a name so shrouded in mystery?
I mean, "Bolsonaro and the secret budget" sounds like a Harry Potter movie, in which the main character was mysteriously replaced by a Death Eater. By He-Who-Shall-Not-Be- Restored-To-Power. And we're the muggles.
The word "secret" does have strong appeal, especially in Brazil. If you want everyone to pay attention to what you're saying, just pretend it's gossip. The Internet is chock-full of links going, "Things that so-and-so doesn't want you to know!
" And I immediately have to click on it. I have to know! "Why doesn't this asshole want me to know?
! I deserve to know! " As proof, I Googled "doesn't want you to know".
. . I don't recommend it.
I lost an entire afternoon. Every "Don't Want You To Know" headline is irresistible. Ranging from "Things NASA doesn't want you to know" to "30 Bible verses the Devil doesn't want you to know".
That intrigued me, because the Bible has 30,000 verses. The Devil is just asking you to skip 30 of them! Is that asking too much?
No! Just 30. You'll still have 29,970 to memorize!
But the true realm of people telling you what so-and-so doesn't want you to know isn't Google, but rather, TikTok. I'll tell you something banks don't want us to know. Netflix doesn't want you to know that.
. . Google pages they don't want you to know!
What are the secrets Serasa doesn't want me to know? Gosh. .
. so many different people not wanting me to know stuff! There's an ignorance caucus going on!
Google is in cahoots with Instagram and Serasa! And they're acting so that I don't know things! It's maddening!
Thank goodness we have TikTok, breaking the barriers of big companies. Unfortunately, after seeing almost all of those videos, I found out that most of those things I don't want myself to know. Apparently, Netflix, Google, Instagram, and Serasa just want what's good for me.
But it's untrue that all of those people don't want us to know whatever. Because if they really wanted to keep it a secret, they wouldn't try to hide it, but rather, rub it on everyone's faces, only with a very obnoxious explanation. As we all know, the best way to conceal something is by making it technical and boring.
For example, no one can make any given subject as annoying as Rodrigo Pacheco, president of the Senate. Just listen to his recently given explanation after he was asked about the secret budget. We had a debate over the public budget, and if you'd allow me an explanation, which is also important for those watching us, the truth is there is no "secret budget", only a public budget featuring lines stemming from either the executive or the legislative power.
And regarding rapporteur amendments, just as there are individual, caucus, and committee amendments, that was a legislative option developed to transfer the autonomy that was previously entirely of the executive branch so that the legislative branch would take part in the budget's definition. I'm already regretting picking this subject for the show. Pacheco is so boring that Paulo Caruso, the cartoonist, was drawing a caricature of somebody else.
Pacheco's so very boring that Caruso went, "Guess I'll sketch Casagrande. . .
His interview was more fun. Pacheco, though? Don't even care.
" I wish I could make a channel featuring the world's most boring lectures just so I could name it "Tedium Talk". But Pacheco uses so many technical terms that his explanation makes it impossible for us to really understand what's this scandal he's describing. Which proves that the best way to conceal an outrage is by asking a lawyer to explain it to you.
Whenever I want to hide a secret from people, I'll ask Pacheco to disclose it in "Roda Viva". But even when it isn't Pacheco explaining it, the secret budget really isn't easy to grasp. The scandals of old?
Those were easy to get. They had a basic principle. The "Mensalão"?
Easy: congressmen were given a monthly bag of money in exchange for voting as the government wanted them to. Simple. Didactic.
It's a hard task, making that incomprehensible. I mean, I think Pacheco could do it. "See, there isn't a 'Mensalão', but rather, parliamentarians who enjoyed a private budget in regards to a scheduled alignment with the executive branch".
But we'll try to explain the secret budget to you in layman's terms. Basically, what people are calling the "secret budget" is a sum of circa 36 billion reais that left the public coffers from 2020 to 2021, meant to be used to stronghold votes to congressmen and senators. That's five times Brazil's yearly science budget, for example.
In total, this equals circa 500 "Mensalão". So why wasn't anyone arrested? Because that's the secret Brasília doesn't want you to know.
In this case, as opposed to classic scandals, this money was paid by a specific kind of parliamentary amendment, which is a mechanism provided for in the Constitution and that has been boosted by a series of constitutional amendments. So, the secret budget is a mechanism within the law. Or rather, within an amendment made to the law that congressmen voted for themselves.
. . Hold on, don't leave yet.
I'll explain it. Basically, congressmen fixed up the Constitution so that they could fix up the budget. They currently do that legally, but they were the ones who decided what was "legal".
Or, as that Brazilian funk song goes, "We ain't outlaws, cause we make the laws". And in order to understand how that mechanism operates, first we need to understand how a country's budget is decided. Please, don't leave!
I, too, hate the word "budget". It gives me palpitations. When something is "compatible with your budget", you ask for its price.
When you think it's going to be too high, you ask for its budget. So, "budget" equals a price you can't pay, because it isn't compatible with your budget. And with public budget, it's even worse - things are counted in the billions, which is an abstract concept to me.
"Billion" sounds a lot like "million", but it's way different. For example - a "million seconds" equal 11 days, but a "billion seconds" equal almost 32 years. A single letter swap, and you lose 30 years of your life.
And in both cases, that letter is a voiced bilabial. Yes, I have a Languages degree. The only difference being that "B" is occlusive, while "M" is nasal.
So, if you have a stuffy nose, the nasal becomes occlusive, and you lose 999 million reais. All because of a cold! And that's why it's so important to study Languages, and take Vitamin C.
But back to public budgets. They're basically decided like this: every year, the executive branch, which is basically composed by the president, the vice-president, and their ministers, gives the Congress a yearly budget bill, or "LOA". Not to be confused with "Loba", that Alcione song, or with that other Calypso song, "The 'Loa' betrayed me".
The LOA bill predicts how much the State will collect the following year, how much it will spend, and how it will spent it. A country's yearly budget is always decided the year previous to its use. Right now, in 2022, we're using the budget that was planned last year.
And it's okay not knowing that. A lot of people don't. In fact, the Minister of Economy himself, Paulo Guedes, didn't know!
Paulo Guedes himself, during his Senate visit yesterday, seemed perplexed when the senators of the budget committee asked him whether he wanted something specific in next year's budget. He said, "It's okay, do your budget, and I'll do my budget later". Senator Eunício then said, "No, Mr Minister, the budget is drafted one year prior.
Before June next year you'll be setting 2020's budget, so, you'll be acting in 2019 with the budget being voted on right now. There are constitutional deadlines for it. I think even Bolsonaro knew that, yet Paulo Guedes didn't.
. . And some people said, "I didn't vote for Bolsonaro, but for Paulo Guedes".
It'd be better to have voted for Bolsonaro. . .
The best part is, when people asked Bolsonaro about the economy, they'd tell them to "ask at Posto Ipiranga", a. k. a.
Paulo Guedes. Just imagine someone going to an Ipiranga gas station and an attendant going, "Fuck off, man. This is a gas station!
What're you asking this shit here for? We don't know shit about budgets! " That said, nowadays, when we fill the tank, we first need to ask for a budget.
Anyway: once the budget bill is set, the President forwards it to the Congress, which will analyze it and confirm whether it's all okay. Congressmen analyze and approve the budget, and during that analysis, congressmen and senators propose amendments. Which is the "Pachecoian" word for budget modifications.
Some budget "reshaping". Current law provides for all kinds of amendments to the budget. A "caucus amendment" is when all parliamentarians elected by a state decide together what they'll dedicate part of that money to.
For instance - it's as if all of Rio's congressmen gathered to acquire money for a hospital, and litigated that budget so it goes to the city. That's just a hypothesis, of course. .
. For Rio congressmen, it's more likely they'd never gather. That they'd "scheduled to schedule a meeting someday".
Maybe Paulo Guedes isn't simply ignorant, but also has a bit of Rio in him. "You send your budget, I'll send mine. .
. we'll schedule a budgeting! A nice, fun budgeting.
I budget from here, you budget from there. . .
And that's how we budget! I miss budgeting you good! " In addition to caucus amendments, there are also committee amendments, which is when all the congressmen in a thematic committee, like health, education, and technology, nominate amendments that benefit their committee's specialties.
And there are also individual amendments, which are a share of the budget that each congressman and senator can direct wherever. This year, for instance, each one of them can apply up to 25 amendments, which equals over 17 million reais for each parliamentarian. And that money is often used for trading.
A congressman who has the rights over an amendment negotiates forwarding those resources to a city hall, for instance, in exchange for political support for himself or allies in a future election. And that's how public resources end up in all kinds of places. From a shell NGO at Amapá, to mayors specifically picked by Assembleia de Deus pastors, as admitted by José Wellington Bezerra da Costa, leader of the Assembleias de Deus in Brazil.
The budget only goes to the mayor by request of the Assembleia de Deus pastor. So, you, pastors, are the middlemen. They come to Paulo, and Paulo goes to the mayor.
Why so? So that the mayor will respect not only the pastor, but also the Church that is there! The electorate he holds, which isn't the mayor's, but fellow Christians', who we are supporting, so that our candidates can keep up their good work.
I'm confused - is that worship, or a plea bargain? Why is he being so honest? If I were one of the people next to him, I'd pretend he's possessed and carry out an exorcism.
"Leave the pastor's body, demon! I know it's you! The father of amendments!
The prince of budgets! The mayor backpack! Leave this body!
" Those individuals amendments have been a thing for a long time now, but for a long time, only the executive branch, i. e. the president and their ministers, could decide whether they'd go with what the congressmen decided.
In order for the money to be used the way a congressman wanted, they'd need to negotiate that with the government. Which, of course, gave the president and their ministers a lot of bargaining power. But in 2015, then-President of the Chamber Eduardo Cunha was trying to stage a parliamentary coup in Dilma Rousseff, and in order to do so, he needed for president Dilma to have less power than the Congress.
After all, no congressman would want to vote pro-impeachment if Dilma could just cull all amendments. Cunha was smart, and managed to get binding amendments approved, which forced the president to pay the individual amendments, which deprived the government of much of its bargaining power. In 2019, a new Congress-led change made it so caucus amendments became binding as well.
Back then, Rodrigo Maia was President of the Chamber, and he wanted to provoke Bolsonaro by removing his power over the Congress. He did have a better way of depriving Bolsonaro of power: just impeaching him. A more direct approach.
But by the end of 2019, while the Congress debated over the following year's budget, the Centrão congressmen, along with Bolsonaro, coordinated the creation of a new kind of amendment, which would give a lot more money to certain parliamentarians, while at the same time ensuring that they wouldn't want to bring Bolsonaro down. That new kind of amendment is the so-called "autonomous budget rapporteur amendment". And if you think that's boring, that's the technical name for the secret budget!
The rapporteur amendment was always a less important kind of amendment, used only to correct some small, technical issues. Every LOA has tons of rapporteur amendments, thusly named because the person who corrects the budget text is the congressman picked to be the budget bill's rapporteur - which is basically the fella who's in charge of writing down the final version of a draft bill. Funny calling them "rapporteur" when they just write.
Maybe they should be called. . .
writers. But writers are people who make no money, while rapporteurs now control billions of reais. So, again, only a few changes in writing and you lose 999 million reais!
This joke was clearly written by a scriptwriter. And how did rapporteurs gain so much power, when their amendments didn't use to be that important? Well, in late 2019, Centrão made a deal with Bolsonaro and collected a share of the investments to Ministries so that it'd became their own budget, a budget exclusive to rapporteur amendments.
In other words, now rapporteurs can apply infinite serious changes to budgets, redirecting public money to wherever other parliamentarians and their allies ask them to send. Or wherever they want it to go. This table explains what happened to parliamentary amendments after the Bolsonaro government signed that deal.
Since 2020, rapporteur amendments were given almost twice the resources of individual amendments, and three times those of caucus amendments. It's an insane amount of power for a budget bill rapporteur, and in case you're wondering, "But who is this rapporteur? ".
. . Well, he's a congressman picked by the President of the Budget Committee, which is composed by members of all parties, proportional to the size of each caucus.
So, if Centrão composes the largest caucus in the Congress, it can also elect the committee's president and, consequently, the budget bill's general rapporteur. Which is why one of the most powerful men in Brazil right now is the LOA rapporteur - MDB's Marcelo Castro. You've probably never heard of him, nor the previous one, PSD's Hugo Leal; nor the previous previous one, União Brasil's Márcio Bittar; nor the one before him, PSD's Domingos Neto.
Actually, in case you don't know Domingos Neto, he's son of politician Domingos Filho, who's son of Domingos Aguiar, who's son of. . .
flamingos? No, son of Odilon. And that Odilon is son of a Domingos!
Which means that Domingos Neto's grandpa and Domingos Filho's father is a "Domingos grandson" to another Domingos, his grandfather. It's four Domingos in total. .
. one for each week of the month. The rapporteur amendments also have another detail - the rapporteur negotiates how much each congressman can nominate, while leaving those congressmen's name out of the budget bill.
So, we can only find out the true owner of the amendment when the project is carried out, which is why that money was nicknamed the "secret budget". Also, rapporteur amendments, unlike individual amendments, aren't binding. So, the Federal Government isn't forced to forward those resources to whatever the rapporteur asked them to, which gives the executive branch back the power that had been taken from it, all the way in 2015, by Eduardo Cunha, and helps Bolsonaro to avoid being impeached, as Dilma was.
And all of that money is only accessed by friends of Centrão and the Bolsonaro government. As proof, the opposition was only given 4% of rapporteur amendments in 2020. Four percent!
That's less than the third way's intended votes. No wonder this is how Bolsonaro refers to the secret budget. In rapporteur amendments alone, parliamentarians have almost three times as many resources as Tarcísio's Ministry of Infrastructure.
So, the Parliament is very well catered by us. My favorite thing about this clip is that he sounds so pissed! Yet he's praising them!
They have three times the budget of infrastructure! They're very well catered! Not to mention this expression, "well catered parliament".
. . It's perfect.
Bolsonaro became kind of like a waiter for congressmen. To be fair, he doesn't serve just any congressman - only those he likes. Like a Rio waiter.
Let's be honest. São Paulo people often complain, "Gosh, the service in Rio is abysmal". .
. No, you just don't know how to talk to them. You don't know Louzeiro.
You gotta know his favorite soccer team, his daughter's name, gotta call him "commander". . .
Don't just order right away! "Excuse me". .
. he won't even hear it! Since the Congress doesn't give rapporteur amendments transparency, it was up to the Supreme Court and journalists to map out where the 36 billion reais spent over the last two years ended up.
But so far, we only found 11 billion. So, there are 25 billion reais just floating around. If you find them, please, notify us!
Many senators, when given official information requests, give completely absurd justifications to not answer them. That when they don't ghost people. "It's not with me.
I don't know where that money is. Don't ask me. XOXO.
" I especially love what Senator Carlos Viana, from Minas Gerais's PSD, says: that "the publicization would lead to speculation, which could result in attacks to his honor, to his relatives, and to the Federal Senate". He's basically saying, "If people find out what I did to the public money, I'll be thrashed. So, better not.
Just leave it. It'll be bad for me. " Actually, not just him.
He says, "For the Senate and for my family". I wasn't curious before, but after that justification, I'm now super curious as to what he did with that money. What were you up to, Carlos?
I mean, you're so worried about your honor, family, and the Senate. . .
What could it be that Carlos Viana "doesn't want you to know"? Meanwhile, Senator Angelo Coronel, from Bahia's PSD. .
. Who isn't a Colonel. .
. And probably not an angel, either. He was given 40 million from the secret budget, and answered a journalist's information request saying that "that was an abuse of the right of access to information".
It's like a husband complaining of his wife looking at his XVideos history. "That is an abuse of your right of access to information! " Or people looking at his WhatsApp.
"There's a limit to things! " According to Coronel, who isn't a colonel, Secrecy is "a political strategy that aids our relationships with municipalities". Coronel, that's a lack of emotional responsibility with the municipalities.
Secrecy isn't a nice relationship tactic. "You become responsible, forever, for the money you allocate". But despite so many parliamentarians trying to hide where their budgets went, journalists managed for find out where some of it went, at least.
And that's how we found out, for instance, that Congressman Domingos Neto, a. k. a.
Dominguinhos, a. k. a.
Netinho. . .
All of his nicknames are singer names! "Dominguinhos", "Netinho". .
. Dominguinho Netinho, 2020's budget rapporteur, sent 140 million to Tauá, Ceará, a town with a population of 58,000 wherein his mother, Patrícia Aguiar, was elected mayor that same year. Wow.
He's giving the mothers of Brazil a terrible precedent. Domingos managed to ruin the lives of every children in the country! My mom will see that and tell me, "Wow, Gregório, and you give me chocolate?
That boy gave his mother 150 million reais! " Domingos, you ruined our Sundays, or "Domingos"! Meanwhile, Minister of Regional Development Rogério Marinho, who isn't even a parliamentarian.
. . nor a marine.
He's bound to soil. He allocated 1. 5 million reais to build a gazebo next to the lands he owns in Monte das Gameleiras, Rio Grande do Norte.
DF governor Ibaneis Rocha also got in on the action and sent 7 million to two municipalities wherein he owns farms. And they're not in DF, but rather, in Piauí. He's DF's governor, and paid to build roads and bridges surrounding his own farms in Piauí.
A "resources express delivery" or sorts. A "public money Shopee"! In the secret budget's first year alone, Congressman Arthur Lira, in addition to the 17 million he was privy to, sent over 114 million to towns of allies - money he got through rapporteur amendments.
Meanwhile, the mother of Minister of the Civil House Ciro Nogueira, who was his understudy, currently a senator, allocated almost 400 million in amendments all by herself. That's four "Mensalão" scandals. And that was just for Ciro's mom.
Which must've been super awkward for Domingos, who suddenly became a good-for-nothing son! I picture Domingos's mother going, "Did you hear about Ciro's mother? Sometimes I think you hate me.
. . I mean, how wouldn't I?
People talk. . .
" But Ciro Nogueira's power over all that is even bigger than that. I said that we'd talk about Ciro today, and we will, because he's a key player in the whole scheme. Ciro Nogueira is currently in charge of negotiating with the government the clearance of the amendments proposed by all parliamentarians.
Yes - in the Federal Government's business desk, Ciro Nogueira became the most important person. He's currently the sole middleman of a sum of money that's three times as big as the entire electoral fund. And congressmen can allocate that money to whatever cities or regions they need the most votes.
So, in regards to the Bolsonaro government, it isn't a stretch to say that Ciro Nogueira became the most important person in these elections. Basically, he decides whether the rapporteur amendments approved in 2021 will be paid. So all of Centrão is now "Cirist".
Ciro Nogueira also has his own fanclub, which I'd call the "LOA crew". The secret budget now became the true electoral fund - a perfect, and more potent, replacement to the old slush fund. After Operation Car Wash, it's like some parliamentarians got that it was better to embezzle money through retail, over thousands of towns and regions, than stealing wholesale, through huge deals with contractors.
Even if the congressmen don't charge part of their amendments as bribes, which is a classic case of corruption, they now have an unforeseen amount of money to give allies - mayors, companies - in their regions. The more they support Congress leaders, the more money they'll get. And, more importantly - if those congressmen don't help Bolsonaro to remain in the executive branch, that easy time may come to an end.
After all, the main candidate opposing Bolsonaro, Lula, has gone on record saying that he'll put an end to, his words, "the rot of the secret budget". So, not a lot of congressmen, already re-elected thanks to the secret budget, will be interested in opposing Bolsonaro should he question his eventual - and likely - defeat, in an eventual - and likely - second round. The evil genius of the secret budget is that it gives tens of billions of reais to Centrão, buying the stability of a government that was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
All strictly legal, because it is all carried out - though details are confidential - under everyone's noses. In practice, the Bolsonaro government and his Centrão allies found a way to legalize the purchase of support. Found a way to control billions in public money, and pervert the independence of the powers and the electoral process itself, all without technically committing a crime.
That's not little. It's as if corruption was now signed by rapporteurs, and came buried under the President of the Senate's legalese, and under a tangled web of theses, maneuvers, and justifications that makes everything too boring to be scandalous. So, if you made it this far: congratulations.
Not everyone is that strong. So, please, don't just share or comment on this show, but also bet on the "way of the beef". Pick whichever beef you want.
When you share this, feel free to add, "I can't believe Gregório said this about Juliette! " Or use. .
. "Wow. .
. " In the comments, if you will. "Watch it all the way to the end.
I can't believe he defends Zé Neto against Anitta! " Or, if you'd rather stick to this week's theme and avoid giving false info, use: "You won't believe what Gregório said about Ciro! " Please, do!
That's it for today's Greg News! See ya!
