Brett Favre, the retired Hall of Fame quarterback, said during a congressional hearing on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the nervous system.

Favre, who turns 55 next month, was appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee during a hearing on the misuse of federal welfare funds. He formerly was accused of using political connections to direct Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater, and to other organizations with which he was linked, as part of Mississippi’s extensive welfare abuse scandal.

In his opening statement, Favre told the committee that he “lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others. And I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me, because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart.”

Favre, who has been outspoken about his health concerns and belief that he may have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE – the brain disease linked to football – was a major investor in Prevacus, a pharmaceutical company that received $2 million in TANF funds.

Prevacus founder Jacob Van Landingham pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July. Prosecutors said he used Mississippi welfare money to pay off gambling and other debts.

Favre, who retired in 2011 after 20 seasons in the NFL, has spoken often of the dangers of CTE. In 2018, he estimated he had “probably thousands” of concussions during his career, which included an NFL-record streak of 297 consecutive games played. “I feel as though I’m lucky, to this point, but … I find that my short-term memory, someone I met six months ago, it has gotten a lot worse,” he told “Today” that year. “Simple words that would normally come out easy in a conversation, I’ll stammer.”

Favre told The Post in 2018 of his worries about youngsters playing tackle football. “I cringe when I see video, or I’m driving and I see little kids out playing, and they’re all decked out in their football gear and the helmet looks like it’s three times bigger than they are,” he said. “It’s kind of funny, but it’s not as funny now as it was years ago, because of what we know now. I just cringe seeing a fragile little boy get tackled and the people ooh and ahh and they just don’t know. Or they don’t care. It’s just so scary.”

The Hall of Fame quarterback was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to answer questions about how TANF funds were misdirected. In 2021, Mississippi auditor Shad White said in a statement that John Davis, the former executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, authorized payments of more than $77 million in TANF funds to nonprofits that either misspent or improperly disbursed portions of that money. An independent accounting firm in Maryland then completed an audit to determine who received the money from the nonprofits. In a report, it said it uncovered nearly $41 million in “questioned costs” for items such as travel and programs to support college athletes.

Favre, according to the auditor, received $1.1 million in program money intended for welfare recipients for speaking engagements he never made. He was also accused of using his ties to former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant to lobby for TANF funds to build a volleyball facility at Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was a player.

Favre has not been criminally charged and has repaid the money he received for appearances that he did not make. In 2020, Favre denied that he had “received monies for obligations I didn’t meet” and said “I love Mississippi and I would never knowingly do anything to take away from those that need it most.” The initial audit found that Favre was paid $500,000 in December 2017 and $600,000 in June 2018 for three speeches from the Mississippi Community Education Center, one of the nonprofits under investigation.

Favre made repayments of $500,000 and $600,000 in October 2021, but a February 2024 court filing by the state auditor stated that he owed $729,790 in interest on the original amount.

Later Tuesday, Favre posted a message on social media in which he thanked fans “for the love” as well as Congress “for giving me the platform to discuss a much needed TANF reform.”