Senate Democrats have just received some unstable procedural news that has far-reaching implications for President Joe Biden’s agenda.
On Monday night, the Senate congressman – an internal rules expert – ruled that Democrats would be able to do a third budgetary reconciliation bill this year, a massive development that gives lawmakers more room to pass laws without support republican.
Democrats already had the ability to do two budgetary reconciliation projects: one focused on fiscal year 2021 and another focused on fiscal year 2022. Unlike most other projects, budgetary measures can be approved with just 51 votes, in instead of 60, which means that Democrats can start the legislation they want, if all 50 members of their caucus are on board. (With the American Rescue Plan, for example, 50 Democrats were able to approve the $ 1.9 trillion package as part of the budget bill for fiscal year 21, although no Republicans supported it.)
“The parliamentarian reported that a revised budget resolution may contain budgetary reconciliation instructions,” said a spokesman to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer in a statement. “This confirms the leader’s interpretation of the Budget Law and allows Democrats to have additional tools to improve Americans’ lives if Republican obstruction continues.”
With the new decision by parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, Democrats can now make a third budgetary reconciliation bill, meaning they can carry out more ambitious measures, as long as they are related to taxes and spending. The decision is based on MacDonough’s interpretation of Section 304 of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, which allows lawmakers to revise a budget resolution before the end of the fiscal year it covers. Given their decision, Democrats can now edit the 2021 budget resolution they have already passed and include instructions for another bill.
Schumer’s spokesman also noted that “no decision has been made on a legislative path using Section 304 and some parameters have yet to be worked out”.
Budgetary reconciliation has its limits: it cannot be used for policies like voting rights reforms or arms control, but it is still a useful tool that Democrats have already taken advantage of to approve a major expansion of child tax credit, increased unemployment benefits and another round of stimulus checks.
Democrats now have another opportunity to promote parts of their agenda that Republicans would otherwise block. And the decision to push for an alternative solution shows how the Democrats’ other options are limited to approving their agenda.
Democrats are relying on budget reconciliation amid disagreements over obstruction
Democrats’ efforts to get the most out of budgetary reconciliation underscores the political context in which they are operating: namely, that they have fewer and fewer options for passing ambitious legislation.
If Democrats eliminated legislative obstruction, all bills could be approved with 51 votes, instead of 60, eliminating the need to rely so much on budgetary reconciliation. But while an increasing number of Democrats seem open to at least changing the way the obstruction works, the bench does not have the votes it needs to remove it. As the moderates Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) vehemently opposed the end of the rule, it seems unlikely that it will change in the short term, meaning that most bills will need 60 votes to pass.
To reach that limit, Democrats will need to convince 10 Republicans to join them on most measures, a result that is becoming increasingly unlikely for many of the party’s most ambitious projects. (In the relief of coronavirus, for example, the Republicans’ initial offer was about a third of President Joe Biden’s proposal.)
In pushing for a reinterpretation of Section 304, Democrats seemed to be looking for other ways to pass the legislation if members of the caucus who are against removing the obstruction do not budge.
Now they have an extra chance.
Infrastructure could be Democrats’ next budgetary reconciliation project
Democrats’ attempts to pave the way for another bill also coincide with Biden’s revelation of a $ 2 trillion infrastructure and jobs package, along with a proposal to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% to pay for it. .
The government is defending Democrats and Republicans in Congress, but the prospects for a bipartisan project look bleak. In particular, Republicans are opposed to tax increases, as well as some of the provisions of Biden’s plan that go beyond roads and bridges.
The parliamentarian’s decision gives more options and chances to use reconciliation to approve his priorities with 51 votes. Biden is expected to announce another package that deals with child care and health soon. Although no final decision has been made on the process and how these plans will merge into a budget bill, Democrats could theoretically break Biden’s infrastructure plan and its future child care and health plan into two reconciliation projects. different – keeping one in the 2021 resolution amendment and putting the rest in the 2022 resolution.
There is another option: Democrats and Republicans could approve a bipartisan infrastructure project that deals more narrowly with roads and bridges, and then Democrats and the Biden government would put their remaining priorities on a budgetary reconciliation project. Relevant House and Senate commissions are currently working on a bill to re-authorize surface transport, which appears every five years.
The five-year reauthorization projects are very closely about fixing roads and bridges, and the Republicans on the committees feel that the reauthorization project should be worked out and approved in a bipartisan way.
“Our committee unanimously reported on legislation to rebuild our country’s water systems. This proves that infrastructure can and should be done on a bipartisan basis, ”said Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), a senior member of the Senate Environment and Health Commission, in a recent statement.
However, the White House sees its plan as a supplement to anything Congress does on infrastructure on its own. Biden proposed $ 621 billion for spending on roads and bridges, railways and public transport, airports and ports.
“All elements of the plan reflect the additional investment in addition to the existing programs and authorities,” a government official told Vox. “In transportation infrastructure, the plan includes an additional $ 600 billion over the five-year budget baseline, assuming a direct extension of FAST-Act funding levels for surface transportation programs.”
The next few months of negotiations between the White House and Congress will decide a lot about how big and bold an infrastructure project will be. But no matter what happens, budget reconciliation will play an important role.