Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget: Reconciliation 101

Source:Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget- welcome to the U.S. Congress. Feel free to leave or escape at will, anytime you want. 

"Reconciliation is a special legislative process created as part of the Budget Act of 1974. It is intended to help lawmakers make the tax and mandatory spending changes necessary to meet the levels proposed in the Congressional budget resolution.

Reconciliation instructions are put forward as part of a concurrent budget resolution that is adopted by both chambers of Congress. These instructions set cost or savings targets for Congressional committees, with instructions covering mandatory spending, revenue, or debt limit changes. Following these instructions, committees of jurisdiction identify specific policies to meet these goals in the form of a reconciliation bill, which can be enacted on a fast-track basis.

A reconciliation bill is privileged in several ways, including a 20-hour limit on debate in the Senate, a non-debatable motion to proceed to the bill, and a strict germaneness test for amendments in a process known as “vote-a-rama” that occurs after regular debate has ended.

Most importantly, the limit on debate time and non-debatable motion to proceed means a reconciliation bill cannot be filibustered in the Senate – allowing the Senate to pass a reconciliation bill by a simple majority, with the Vice President able to cast a tie-breaking vote, rather than needing 60 votes to end debate." 

From the Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget 

"In February, Congress advanced a budget resolution allowing up to $1.9 trillion of additional spending or tax cuts through a process known as budget reconciliation. This powerful tool allows legislation to pass with a simple majority in the Senate, but includes many hurdles such as the famed Byrd rule.

 

A panel of experts (featuring two former staff members of the Senate Budget Committee) discussed how reconciliation works and what it might mean for potential COVID relief legislation. 

Panelists:

Marc Goldwein, Senior Vice President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Tori Gorman, Policy Director, The Concord Coalition

Zach Moller, Deputy Director of the Economics Program, Third Way" 

Source:Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget- with a look at U.S. Congressional reconciliation.

From the Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget

CRFB already lays out what reconciliation in Congress is. It allows for the Senate to act like the House, just as long as the bill that they are discussing, is related to the Federal budget and relates to government spending. 

And it put limits on how much the U.S. Government can borrow and it means that the Senate, can pass a reconciliation bill with just 51 votes, including the Vice President, but the minority party, as well as majority party members in the Senate, can offer and get up or down votes on their amendments to the reconciliation bills, just as long as their amendments are relevant to the reconciliation bill. 

What I really want to get into here is why we have reconciliation in Congress, (House and Senate) why it's necessary, and how it can be improved. 

As a Liberal, (or Classical Liberal, if you prefer) I believe in checks and balances and minority rights. But there's such a thing as too good of a good thing and too much of a bad thing. When you allow the Senate Minority Leader, to essentially block everything that's brought to the floor, especially when the Minority Leader has a large minority, like now with 49 seats in the U.S. Senate, under Mitch McConnell, you make the Minority Leader essentially as powerful as the Majority Leader, which means the elections from the last term, don't matter. 

So there needs to be a responsible way for the Majority Leader and his caucus to act, regardless of which party is in power in the Senate, as well as the House, which party is in The White House, especially when the Senate Minority Leader and his caucus, doesn't want to work with the majority party on anything, because they're only concern about the next elections and getting back into the majority.

If you call yourself a fiscal Conservative, or someone like myself who is a Liberal, who believes in fiscal responsibility, you should like Congressional reconciliation, when it's used in a responsible way. Not used to add a lot of pork to the Federal budget, that's all borrowed and where perhaps only the member of Congress who offered the pork, in the House or Senate, knows what's in their pork. Or in a way that meets and a lot of partisan and ideological demands and adds a lot of new social or military spending, or tax cuts that benefit very few people, that isn't paid for, or couldn't even be paid for, because of how expensive it is.

So, reconciliation yes, but it has to be done in a smart way. 

So imagine if I'm in charge of Congress (as big of a nightmare as that might be for anyone) and I get to write the rules for how both the House of Representatives and Senate should act, this is how I would reform reconciliation in Congress: 

All reconciliation in bills in Congress have to start in the House first. 

Be passed out by the committee of jurisdiction, as well as the House Budget Committee as well. 

Every reconciliation bill would have to be paid for, 

And the minority party, led by the House Minority Leader, similar to what's already going on in the Senate, would have the ability to offer and get up and down votes on all relevant amendments that they may have to the reconciliation bill and they would get 20 hours in the House as well, just like in the Senate.

Once the reconciliation bill is passed by the House, then it goes to the Senate, where their committee of jurisdiction, as well as their Budget Committee, would get the chance to amend and debate the bill as well. 

Once the two committees in the Senate passes the reconciliation bill, it then goes to the floor, where the Senate as a whole would take it up. 

And the Senate minority party, led by the Minority Leader, could offer relevant amendments to the bill, that would have to be paid for, just like in the House and they would get 20 hours as well to offer amendments. 

And once all amendments and time for debate have been offered and voted on, all time for debate is over, the Majority Leader could move for final passage of the bill. Just as long as the reconciliation bill is fully paid for and doesn't even add a penny to the deficit. 

Again, if you oppose Congressional gridlock, but also believe in fiscal responsibility, this would be a good way to get Congress moving (which party is in power or if there is a divided Congress) but also a good way to get national debt and deficit under control, because this would essentially make PAYGO (or pay as you go) the law of the land in the U.S. Government and there would be no more borrowing, except when we are in recession, or you could get a 3/5 vote both in the House and Senate, to lift this PAYGO rule.

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