“Reconciliation” is a buzzword in Washington, as Democratic leadership considers using the procedural measure to pass health care reform.
So what is reconciliation? How often and in what ways has it been used in the past?
Here’s how the Congressional Research Service (CRS) describes the budget reconciliation process:
…an optional procedure that operates as an adjunct to the budget resolution process established… The chief purpose of the reconciliation process is to enhance Congress’s ability to change current law in order to bring revenue, spending, and debt-limit levels into conformity with the policies of the annual budget resolution.
The process was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and is intended to apply only to spending, revenue and debt limit matters.
Reconciliation enables the Senate to pass a bill with a simple majority – 51 votes – rather than the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. In the Senate, debate on a reconciliation measure can only last up to 20 hours, and amendments must have to do with the topic at hand.
Discussion has focused on whether Congress has used reconciliation to pass bills not related to the budget. It has, but rarely.
CRS says Congress has used reconciliation to pass legislation 19 times since 1981, including welfare reform and the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. The New York Times recently highlighted several of these modern uses of reconciliation.
Whether it is necessary or wise to use reconciliation now, the procedure is, as National Public Radio says, “the legislative equivalent of breaking out the heavy artillery in a pitched battle.”
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) has stressed that reconciliation cannot be used for a large bill like health care reform. According to Conrad, reconciliation could only be used to make modest changes to improve affordability and other cost-saving issues within the healthcare bill.
It remains to be seen if that is the intention of Democratic leadership.
Tags: budget, Congressional Research Service, Conrad, health care, reconciliation
