Reconciliation Avoids the Senate Filibuster
Reconciliation bypasses the Senate filibuster. Reconciliation bills are privileged and can be passed by a simple majority (a 60-vote threshold is not required for cloture).
Reconciliation Is a Budgetary Process
The reconciliation process was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 as a way to fast-track legislative changes called for in a budget resolution.
A reconciliation bill may include changes to 1)
outlays; 2)
revenues; or 3) the
debt limit. One reconciliation bill may include one or multiple of these categories.
The Reconciliation Process
- The budget resolution provides reconciliation instructions to House and Senate committees.
- Authorizing committees report legislative recommendations making changes to programs within their jurisdictions to comply with the reconciliation instructions.
- The Budget Committee bundles the reconciliation recommendations from each of the authorizing committees into one reconciliation bill.
- In the Senate, a reconciliation bill is privileged, cannot be filibustered, and debate is
limited to 20 hours.
- In the Senate, debate is followed by the “vote-a-rama” on amendments.
- Final passage is a majority vote threshold in each chamber.
- While the budget resolution does not need to be signed by the President, a reconciliation bill does.
The Byrd Rule
In the Senate, the Byrd Rule keeps a reconciliation bill focused on budgetary changes.
Any provision in a reconciliation bill that does not produce a change in outlays or revenues, increases the deficit outside the budget window, or whose change in outlays or revenues are considered to be “merely incidental” to the nonbudgetary components of the provision is subject to a point of order in the Senate.
