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As Senate Democrats appear at a stalemate over removing legislative filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is now evaluating other approaches to passing bills that have little Republican support, including reinterpreting a decades-old rule to give Democrats new opportunities to advance legislation with a simple majority.
Currently, filibuster means that the 50-person Democratic caucus, if left united, needs at least 10 Republican votes to successfully advance most laws. Getting that many votes has proven to be a challenge so far, forcing Senate Democrats to adopt the coronavirus relief plan as part of budget reconciliation, for example. Using fiscal reconciliation, lawmakers are able to approve legislation with just 51 votes Democrats hold (including Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker).
However, the Senate cannot pass an unlimited number of reconciliation bills; in general, Congress has one per year. Given the legislative backlog in 2020, Democrats were on track to draft two short-term reconciliation bills – one for the FY2021 budget and the other for the FY2021 budget. fiscal year 2022.
According to an aide to Schumer, his team are now trying to argue that Democrats could pass up to three budget reconciliation bills this year. In arguments to the Senate parliamentarian, an in-house procedural expert, aides are pushing for a third bill citing an obscure rule that has not been used before.
According to Section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, budget resolutions can be revised if they are updated before the end of the fiscal year they cover: if the Democrats’ argument holds, for example, they could go back and amend the resolution for fiscal year 2021 and include instructions for another reconciliation bill. Any new legislation could theoretically focus on democratic priorities that the original bill – which contained $ 1.9 trillion in coronavirus aid – did not include.
Whether Democrats are ultimately in a position to do so depends heavily on MP Elizabeth MacDonough, who will determine whether such a decision falls within the confines of section 304. The parliamentarian is a non-adviser. supporter in the Senate who weighs in on what lawmakers are capable of. to do under upper house rules: Previously, she had determined that a minimum wage of $ 15 could not be included in the coronavirus relief bill because it did not meet reconciliation guidelines, which can only be used to formulate policy affecting spending and income.
His decision would, once again, be critical in determining whether Democrats are capable of following this path – and how much of their agenda they could realistically accomplish.
The Democrats’ efforts to take this potential procedural step underline the political context in which they operate.
Given that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have been so fierce in their opposition to removing legislative filibuster, this rule does not seem likely to change in the short term, this which means most bills will need 60 votes to pass. To reach that threshold, Democrats will need to convince 10 Republicans to join them on most measures, an outcome that is becoming increasingly unlikely for many of the party’s most ambitious bills. (When it comes to coronavirus relief, for example, the Republicans’ opening offer was about a third of what President Joe Biden had proposed.)
By pushing for this procedural option, Democrats appear to be looking for other ways around the 60-vote requirement that does not involve blowing up the filibuster.
The request for budget reconciliation, briefly explained
Budget reconciliation was always going to be a key tool that Senate Democrats relied on in a 50-50 Senate: By using the Fiscal Year 2021 bill to pass historic coronavirus relief, they have already been able to advance legislation much more generous than what a compromise bill with the Republicans would have looked like. When it comes to the Democrats’ next priority – infrastructure – and the expansive plans they have presented so far, the Democrats may well do the same.
If they could get a third attempt at budget reconciliation, that would mean Democrats – if they stay united – could push through even more of their priorities without needing GOP concessions, though many bills like the law vote and gun control probably can’t go through the reconciliation process.
As Vox’s Dylan Scott previously explained, each budget resolution is capable of putting three bills in place, although lawmakers typically pass them as one big package, meaning they actually have a chance to use this tool every fiscal year:
The budget resolution can, in theory, put in place three separate reconciliation bills: one for taxes, one for spending, and one for the federal debt ceiling. However, in practice, most reconciliation bills combine taxes and spending into one piece of legislation. This is the reason why, historically, the Senate has generally limited itself to passing a single budget reconciliation bill in a given fiscal year.
Making their point, Democrats hope to release what would essentially be two fiscal reconciliation bills for fiscal year 2021 instead of just one. At this point, they have not yet clarified what exactly this third reconciliation bill would cover.
Democrats try to overcome tough political boundaries
Schumer’s decision to make the request was driven by a desire to keep as many avenues open for Democrats as possible, according to an aide. What this also seems to imply is that Democrats need another way to legislate, as filibuster changes seem unlikely.
If Democrats cleared the legislative obstruction, then all bills could pass with 51 votes instead of 60, removing the need to rely so much on budget reconciliation. But while a growing number of Democrats seem willing to at least change how filibuster works, the caucus does not have the voices it needs to eliminate filibuster entirely, which means that a change of rules allowing Democrats to pass legislation with 51 votes doesn’t seem like that will happen anytime soon.
At this point, lawmakers like Manchin and Sinema have been resolute in their opposition to changing the 60-vote requirement, as they argue that filibusters allow for a significant minority contribution in the Senate. As more and more democratic priorities such as gun control and the right to vote are blocked in the Senate, it is possible that they will end up changing their position once they see Republicans continue to block these. law projects.
For now, however, the push for a reinterpretation of Section 304 suggests Democrats intend to open up other outlets if those in the caucus who are against eliminating filibuster do not budge. .
How Democrats Plan to Use Reconciliation for Infrastructure
Democrats are exploring these possibilities before Biden presents the next major leg of his economic plan: a massive infrastructure package that could amount to around $ 3 trillion.
“I hope this will be the biggest infrastructure package in American history,” Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), chairman of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, told Vox in a recent interview.
Biden and Congressional Democrats see an infrastructure package as the best way to tackle climate change and bring the country to net zero electricity emissions by 2035 – an ambitious goal Biden set during the election campaign. Biden’s upcoming infrastructure plan will also serve as a climate plan: calling for the installation of more electric vehicle charging stations on the country’s roads, modernization of the electricity grid and incentive for more wind and solar projects.
Then there’s another piece of Biden’s infrastructure plan that will be presented separately, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed this weekend. The second stream will deal with the economics of care, including child care and paid family leave, universal preschool, and free community college tuition.
The fact that Biden’s White House appears to split the two packages could be a sign that they think the infrastructure and clean energy proposals are more likely to go through a tightly divided Congress and gain support. moderate Democrats as the component of the care economy. But another reconciliation bill – if the parliamentarian of the Senate approves it – could give them greater flexibility in passing the latter.
Democrats in Congress and the White House are yet to say whether an infrastructure package could be passed with a fiscal reconciliation, or even whether infrastructure will be included in the FY2022 package or a FY2022 package. 2021 amended. Currently, there is talk on Capitol Hill about working with Republicans in Congress to pass a bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization bill to invest money in roads and bridges and then put in the more ambitious elements. of Biden’s infrastructure plan in a budget reconciliation bill.
Much will depend on the ability of Biden and the Congressional leadership to secure Republican votes on infrastructure, or what the demands for a dynamic vote are from Democrats like Manchin, who have said they want both a “huge” infrastructure bill funded by increased corporate taxes and a bipartisan bill.
Either way, Schumer and White House Biden will want to keep their options open going forward.
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