🤑 No pay cap for Congress

One of Congress’s first acts after returning from its end-of-year recess was a telling one. In a legislative sprint that lasted just over five hours, lawmakers approved a bill allowing staff in both chambers to earn well above the constitutional pay cap of BRL 46,366 (USD 8,825) a month. 

The trick was neither subtle nor new: create “indemnities” that are not legally wages, exempt them from income tax and call it a day. Monthly compensation for senior congressional staff can now reach roughly BRL 77,000. For every three days worked, employees accrue one day of leave. That leave can be converted into cash up to 10 times per month.

The bill was introduced in the House at 12:41 pm, assigned a rapporteur within an hour, and approved by 1:30 pm despite scattered attempts at obstruction. The Senate moved even faster, wrapping up the entire process in seven minutes that same evening.

Each of these aspects reveals a political system that is less and less governed by the republican ethos it claims to defend…

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