IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 106 

Condemning the undemocratic attacks on Brazil’s Government institutions 

and supporting the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in 

Brazil’s recent Presidential election. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2023 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. WILD, 

Ms. TITUS, Mr. ALLRED, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. 

CONNOLLY, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. 

LEE of California, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the undemocratic attacks on Brazil’s Government institutions and supporting the free will of the 

Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent Presidential election. 

Whereas, on October 30, 2022, Brazil’s former President, 

Luiz Ina ́cio Lula da Silva, won the majority of votes cast 

in a runoff election to become Brazil’s next President 

over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro; 

Whereas Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party did well in the 2022 elections, winning 99 seats in the 513-member lower house, 

13 of the 81 Senate seats, and 2 Governors’ races, in adVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:30 Feb 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR106.IH HR106

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•HRES 106 IH 

dition to participating in coalitions that elected at least 

6 others; 

Whereas Bolsonaro made his first public remarks 2 days 

later, thanking his supporters and encouraging their protests, as long as they remained peaceful, but failing to officially concede to Lula; 

Whereas Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party asked the electoral court 

to reject ballots from voting machines deployed before 

2020, claiming these models were compromised, notwithstanding that these voting machines represent 61 percent 

of all voting machines and rejecting these ballots would 

likely have flipped the election result; 

Whereas Brazil’s electoral court rejected the challenge 

against the Presidential election result, stating that the 

complaint was made ‘‘in bad faith’’ and fined Bolsonaro’s 

party 22.9m reais or $4,300,000; 

Whereas the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court that oversees elections have faced an unprecedented campaign of distrust and public threats to judges 

largely due to years of Bolsonaro making false claims 

about the election system including before, during, and 

after the 2022 electoral process; 

Whereas, according to independent experts, Brazil’s election 

officials, and foreign governments, including the United 

States, there has been no evidence of fraud in the electronic voting machines since Brazil began using them in 

1996, despite Bolsonaro’s claims otherwise; 

Whereas, in the days leading up to Brazil’s Presidential elections, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube directed many online users seeking basic election-related information toward groups pushing claims that question 


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•HRES 106 IH 

the integrity of the vote or openly agitating for a military 

coup; 

Whereas there are multiple layers of security to prevent fraud 

errors, including the testing of hundreds of machines on 

election day to ensure votes are recorded correctly, having 

each polling station publicly post vote counts to ensure 

they match up with the national tally, having outside experts inspect some of the source code of the machines’ 

software, and ensuring machines are not connected to the 

internet, significantly reducing the chances of a hack; 

Whereas, despite this lack of evidence of election fraud, supporters of former President Bolsonaro blocked roads 

across the country, scuffled with police, and continued 

demonstrating outside of military barracks, urging a military intervention in order to prevent Lula from taking office; 

Whereas Bolsonaro arrived in Florida in late December, skipping the January 1, 2023, swearing-in of Lula, who became the first elected Brazilian President not to receive 

the Presidential sash from his predecessor since democracy was restored in 1985; 

Whereas, on January 8, 2023, hundreds of supporters of 

former President Bolsonaro stormed the National Congress of Brazil, the Pala ́cio do Planalto (presidential palace), and the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, and 

many claimed they wanted the Brazilian military to restore Bolsonaro to power and oust newly inaugurated 

President Luiz Ina ́cio Lula da Silva; 

Whereas hundreds of protesters began to riot by using heavy 

metal objects to force their way into the buildings, 

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•HRES 106 IH 

stroying furniture and computers, scaling the building, 

and waving flags and banners in support of Bolsonaro; 

Whereas Brazilian authorities are reporting that at least 70 

individuals were injured, including police officers and 

members of the media, and more than 650 people have 

been charged so far in connection to the riots; 

Whereas ongoing investigations have indicated that actions by 

some members of the military and police to encourage, 

support, and protect those violently defacing democratic 

institutions highlight possible cooperation between military and police officials and the rioters; 

Whereas such treatment stands in stark contrast to reports 

by United Nations human rights experts demonstrating a 

sharp increase in violence by police of low-income, Black, 

Brown, and Indigenous communities in Brazil over the 

last 4 years; 

Whereas President Lula, congressional leaders, and the Supreme Court President issued a statement saying that 

‘‘defenders of democracy’’ in Brazil ‘‘reject the acts of 

terrorism, vandalism, crime, and the attempted coup’’ 

and ‘‘are united to take institutional action, according to 

Brazilian law’’; 

Whereas Brazilian Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de 

Moraes, is conducting investigations into the riots and 

continues to analyze the security failings that allowed 

Bolsonaro supporters to ransack government buildings; 

and 

Whereas President Joe Biden spoke to President Lula by 

phone on January 9, 2023, and ‘‘conveyed the unwavering support of the Untied States for Brazil’s democracy 

and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed 


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•HRES 106 IH 

in Brazil’s recent President election’’ and also ‘‘condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the violent and unlawful attack 

3 on Brazil’s government institutions, including the 

4 National Congress of Brazil, the Pala ́cio do Planalto 

5 (presidential palace), and the Supreme Court in 

6 Brasilia; 

7 (2) opposes any attempt to overturn the free 

8 will of the Brazilian people as expressed in the 2022 

9 election results and undemocratically remove newly 

10 inaugurated President Lula; 

11 (3) stands with the people of Brazil as they re12 cover from this horrific incident and seek justice and 

13 accountability for the attack; 

14 (4) calls for the United States Government to 

15 cooperate with requests for assistance received from 

16 Brazilian authorities investigating the attack; and 

17 (5) supports constructive dialogues between the 

18 United States and Brazil to promote democracy, re19 spect for rule of law, human rights, civic participa20 tion, and racial and ethnic equality in access to jus21 tice. 

Æ 


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