The Senate MP on Monday ruled that Democrats can use special fiscal rules to avoid a GOP filibuster on two more pieces of legislation, paving the way for President Biden
Joe BidenBiden should look to ‘Ostpolitik’ to negotiate with autocrats The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden’s infrastructure plan sparks definition debate The Memo: Biden’s gamble on taxes MOREinfrastructure agenda to succeed in two packages with simple majority voting.
It’s a victory for Charles Schumer (DN.Y.), majority leader in the Senate, which allows him to take Biden’s $ 2.25 trillion package by revising the 2021 tax resolution.
Schumer could pass a fiscal 2022 resolution to do a third reconciliation package for the second half of the Biden infrastructure agenda. Or the fiscal 2021 budget could be revised a third time to set up a third reconciliation package.
Top Schumer employees had argued to MP Elizabeth MacDonough last month that Section 304 of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act allows them to revise the fiscal 2021 resolution to create additional reconciliation instructions, and map out pathways to two more bills this year. to be approved by just a simple majority in the 50-50 Senate.
“The MP has advised that a revised budget resolution may include instructions for reconciling the budget. This confirms the leader’s interpretation of the budget bill and gives Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues,” said one. spokesman for Schumer in a statement. Monday. “While no decisions have been made on a legislative path forward using Section 304 and some parameters have yet to be worked out, the MP’s view is an important step forward that this key path is available to Democrats when needed.”
Democrats used the budget reconciliation process earlier this year to pass Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus control bill without GOP votes, in place of the 60 votes needed to advance legislation in the upper house.
The new pronunciation enables Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi Lawmakers say resolving border crisis is Biden’s job Suspect in auto attack Capitol suffered delusional, suicidal thoughts: Schumer report: Auto attack underscores need for Congress to “ address security in the Capitol ‘ MORE (D-Calif.) To split Biden’s infrastructure proposal into two legislative packages.
The first part, a $ 2.25 trillion measure unveiled by the White House last month, includes more traditional infrastructure priorities. The second part, scheduled for later this year, will include more people-centered spending priorities favored by progressives, such as comprehensive childcare, free community school, universal kindergarten, and more affordable housing.
Both the Senate and the House will have to pass another simultaneous resolution to trigger an additional set of reconciliation instructions.
Democratic aides say a second infrastructure package will be needed if Biden’s $ 2.25 trillion proposal is downsized in an effort to get Republican votes or the support of Democratic centrists like Sen. Joe Manchin
Joe Manchin GOP Senator Hammers Biden Proposal To Increase Corporate Tax Rate The Filibuster Can Be Overcome: I Know – I Helped It Lawmakers Say Solving Border Crisis Is Biden’s Job MORE (W.Va.).
A Schumer aide said last week that the majority leader “wants to maximize his options to allow Senate Democrats multiple avenues to advance President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda if Senate Republicans try to obstruct or impede a bipartisan agreement. to water down. “
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden
Ronald (Ron) Lee Wyden Concerned about China? Make It Easier to Buy Elsewhere Schumer Says Senate Continues to Legalize Marijuana Biden Puts Capitol Hill on Path to Expenses and Taxes MORE (D-Ore.), Who has jurisdiction over the tax laws Democrats plan to pay for part of Biden’s infrastructure agenda, cheered the MP’s decision Monday night.
“I welcome the MP’s statement that budget resolutions can be revised so that we can consider moving additional bills through the reconciliation process. The American people want bold action to address our country’s many challenges, and the Democrats now have more options to overcome the Republican obstruction and get things done, ”he said in a statement.
Senate Republicans argued that Democrats should not have been allowed to move two separate reconciliation packages, with special protections against a filibuster, from the same budget resolution.
“This is an abuse of the process and clearly not what reconciliation was intended for, but they are going ahead anyway,” said a GOP assistant.
The party that runs the White House, House, and Senate often tries to put forward only one reconciliation package per budget for the fiscal year. During former President Trump
Donald Trump Biden Should Look To ‘Ostpolitik’ To Negotiate With Autocrats The Memo: Biden’s Bet On Taxes Why Some Republicans Think Vaccine Passports Will Backfire On Democrats MOREIn its first year in office, Republicans used a fiscal 2017 fiscal resolution to promote legislation that would have repealed parts of the Affordable Care Act, followed by a fiscal 2018 fiscal resolution to enact the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Schumer used the first fiscal 2021 budget reconciliation package to approve the US $ 1.9 trillion bailout in a 50-49 vote on March 6.
MacDonough dealt with the Democrats a setback on that bill by deciding in late February that they could not add a provision to increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, a provision Biden had included in his initial pandemic proposal.
Revising the 2021 budget resolution will require 15 hours of Senate floor debate and one more budget vote-a-rama, which will burn precious time on the calendar.
“It’s 3pm for the Senate floor review. You still have to report, you still have to call it, you still have to get the floor, you still have the option to vote, ”said Bill Hoagland, a budget expert at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “I’m not quite sure about the big picture of things that will save you a lot of time.”
After revising the 2021 budget resolution, Democrats could then pass a fiscal 2022 resolution drafting a third budget resolution to meet the second half of Biden’s infrastructure agenda and raise the federal debt limit by the end of the year.
Congress has suspended the debt limit through July 2021, after which the Treasury Department will take “extraordinary measures” to extend the federal government’s borrowing authority for a few months, likely through the end of the year.
While Democrats could include multiple reconciliation instructions in the 2022 budget resolution to weather both halves of Biden’s infrastructure agenda and raise the debt limit, leaders may have different priorities for that resolution.
Updated at 7:05 PM