That process allows the party in control of Congress to pass most big-dollar legislation with a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate without having to worry about a filibuster.
Congressional Democrats say they've heard Biden's calls for bipartisanship, but they're setting up a budget work-around — just in case.
For years, Congress mostly used reconciliation for deficit reduction, said Zach Moller, deputy director of economic programs at the center-left think tank Third Way and a former Democratic staffer on the Senate Budget Committee.
In recent years, though, reconciliation has become a popular tool to get big partisan bills passed when one party has full control of Washington. Democrats used reconciliation to pass some health care changes in 2010, and Republicans used it to pass tax cuts in 2017, as well as in their failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act during Donald Trump's presidency.
"This is a way to find a way to change spending and revenue that does not have to deal with the partisan gridlock," Moller said. "It's not a backdoor process; it's more like express lanes on the highway. It's a way to get you where you want to go, sometimes faster, oftentimes with less congestion."
But there are some pretty significant road blocks along the road to reconciliation.
A speedy but treacherous path
Budget reconciliation isn't as simple as adding policies to a budget bill and passing that legislation with 51 votes in the Senate.
The process starts with a budget resolution that includes special rules and procedures for reconciliation.
Typically, Congress only gets one shot at reconciliation each year, because they are only allowed to pass one budget for each fiscal year.
This year is different. The previous Congress did not pass a budget for 2020, which means Democrats have the chance to attach reconciliation instructions to a 2020 budget and a 2021 budget, if they can agree on what those budgets should include.
Once they agree on a budget, simple majorities in the House and the Senate have to pass the same language. Then, the clock starts for reconciliation and things can move quickly.
There's a time limit on debate in the Senate, and there's no filibuster when the clock runs out.
"This is the secret sauce of budget reconciliation — the fact there's a 20-hour time clock for the budget reconciliation measure," Moller said. "It's a lot smoother, and you don't have to deal with the filibuster, because at the end of the time, they just start taking votes."
Has to be about government spending
There are a few things that lawmakers have to keep in mind. Reconciliation only applies to policies that change spending — the money the federal government pays out — or revenue — the money the federal government takes in.
Some things, like the Social Security program, can't be altered.
Those initial guard rails are important because if the lawmakers writing the reconciliation bill get them wrong, the whole process can fall apart.
by Kelsy Snell, NPR | Read more:
Image: Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images[ed. See also: GOP senators release details of $618 billion COVID relief package (Axios); and The Senate Has Become a Dadaist Nightmare (NYT).]
