Explainer: What is the U.S. Senate's 'budget reconciliation' process?
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[November 20, 2021]
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Now that the U.S.
House of Representatives has passed President Joe Biden's ambitious
$1.75 trillion social policy and climate bill, the action moves to the
Senate, where its fate is unclear.
Biden's Democrats, who hold the thinnest-possible Senate majority, do
not expect any Republican support for the sprawling initiative, leaving
them to turn to a maneuver known as "budget reconciliation" for a second
time this year.
WHAT IS RECONCILIATION?
The reconciliation procedure enables the 100-member Senate to pass
measures with a simple majority vote, instead of the 60 votes required
by Senate rules to stop debates known as "filibusters." That means
Democrats, who currently control 50 Senate seats, do not have to try to
get at least 10 Republicans to vote with them. Democratic Vice President
Kamala Harris can break a tie, giving the party a majority.
WHEN AND WHY WAS RECONCILIATION CREATED?
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Reconciliation came into being as part of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974. It was designed to enable lawmakers to adjust spending or
revenues to comply with a budget blueprint without supermajority
support.
The law was one of several Congress passed in the 1970s establishing
exceptions to the 60-vote filibuster rule. Others included fast-track
procedures for Congress to approve trade agreements, or to limit the
president's ability to commit troops overseas.
HOW HAS RECONCILIATION BEEN USED?
Reconciliation has become a favored route to enable a president to pass
trademark legislation. It has been used over 20 times since 1980.
Then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, used reconciliation to raise
taxes. Republicans George W. Bush and Donald Trump used it to cut them.
Barack Obama, a Democrat, used it to help create the Affordable Care
Act, better known as Obamacare.
Biden has already used reconciliation to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19
aid package. He did not need it to push through another part of his
agenda, a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, because 19 Republicans in the
Senate and 13 in the House supported that measure.
Majority parties cannot use the process all the time. Legislation has to
have a direct budgetary impact to qualify. Reconciliation generally has
not been employed more than once a year.
Biden’s Democrats can use reconciliation again this calendar year
because their previous use was connected to the fiscal 2021 budget. Now
they are switching to the fiscal 2022 budget.
HOW DOES RECONCILIATION WORK?
First, the House and Senate pass budget resolutions with "reconciliation
instructions" for committees. That happened in August.
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The program initially called for $3.5 trillion worth
of environmental and social programs promised by Biden, such as
clean energy requirements for utilities, free community college,
extending the child tax credit and paid family and medical leave.
The plan was whittled down after objections to the cost from
centrist Democrats. Many proposals were assigned shorter periods,
while some ideas like the community college spending were tossed out
altogether. The measure would be financed by higher taxes on the
wealthy and corporations as well as increased tax enforcement
measures.
In the Senate, it is the parliamentarian's job to identify items
that should be stripped out of reconciliation bills because they
look more like regulatory initiatives than fiscal matters. That
happened in February when the parliamentarian ruled that a
$15-an-hour federal minimum wage should not be included in the
COVID-19 aid reconciliation bill.
The parliamentarian has been reviewing the 2,000-plus-page "Build
Back Better" bill, and lawmakers say she has already nixed two
immigration proposals that were in previous versions. Supporters
hope she will approve new wording on immigration that is in the bill
now.
Generally the parliamentarian's rulings are respected by the
majority. Senators would need 60 votes to overturn them.
Before the final Senate vote, there is a session called the "vote-a-rama"
in which amendments can be offered until the parties agree to stop.
PARTY UNITY REQUIRED AT THE FINISH LINE
In the end, Senate Democrats must stick together to pass the
reconciliation bill, since no Republican support is expected.
Democrats currently need all their members to pass the measure, but
at least two moderate Senate Democrats have repeatedly expressed
concerns about the "Build Back Better" plan, leaving its fate in
doubt.
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Senator Joe Manchin has not committed to voting for the program, and
urged lawmakers to slow their rush to pass it. The West Virginia
Democrat opposes the paid family leave provisions and has objected
to some environmental measures such as tax incentives for electric
vehicles.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to the initial $3.5 trillion
price tag was one reason it was slashed. But like Manchin, she has
still not promised publicly to back the bill.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Scott Malone, Peter Cooney
and Jonathan Oatis)
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