Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – The U.S. House of Representatives passed President Joe Biden’s $1.75 billion social policy and climate bill. Now, the action will move to the Senate. However, its fate is still unknown.

Biden’s Democrats hold the slimmest possible Senate majority. They don’t expect to receive any Republican support for this sprawling initiative. This leaves them open to the possibility of “budget reconciliation”, which is a strategy that allows them to seek Republican support again in the future.

    WHAT IS RECONCILIATION?

This reconciliation process allows the 100-member Senate, which is composed of Democrats and Republicans to approve measures by a simple majority vote instead of 60 votes as required by Senate rules that stop “filibusters” debates. This means that Democrats who hold 50 Senate seats don’t have to attempt to convince at least 10 Republicans not to vote for them. Kamala Harris (Democratic Vice President) can dissolve a tie giving her party the majority.

    WHEN AND WHY WAS RECONCILIATION CREATED?

    Reconciliation came into being as part of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. The reconciliation was established to permit lawmakers to modify spending or revenue to meet a budget plan without the need for supermajority support.

    The law was one of several Congress passed in the 1970s establishing exceptions to the 60-vote filibuster rule. Some of the other provisions were fast-track processes to authorize trade agreements and limit President Obama’s ability overseas to deploy troops.

    HOW HAS RECONCILIATION BEEN USED?

    Reconciliation has become a favored route to enable a president to pass trademark legislation. Since 1980, it has been used more than 20 times.

    Then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, used reconciliation to raise taxes. Republicans George W. Bush (Republican) and Donald Trump (Democratic) used it to reduce them. Barack Obama (a Democrat) used it to create Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act.

Biden already used reconciliation in order to pass the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 assistance package. It was not necessary to pass another portion of his agenda: a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. This measure had been supported by 19 Republicans in Congress and 13 Republicans in the House.

    Majority parties cannot use the process all the time. To be eligible, legislation must have an immediate budgetary effect. The reconciliation process should not be used more often than once each year.

Biden’s Democrats can use reconciliation again this calendar year because their previous use was connected to the fiscal 2021 budget. The fiscal 2022 budget is now their focus.

    HOW DOES RECONCILIATION WORK?

    First, the House and Senate pass budget resolutions with “reconciliation instructions” for committees. This was August.

Biden originally proposed $3.5 trillion of social and environmental programs. These included free community colleges, clean energy requirements, extended child tax credit, paid family and medical leaves, and extending the utility bill.

Following objections from centrist Democrats to the price of the plan, it was cut down. Many of the proposals were given shorter deadlines, while others such as those relating to community colleges were dropped. It would also be funded through increased taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals, along with tax enforcement.

It is the responsibility of the Senate’s parliamentarian to find items that need to be removed from reconciliation bills. They are seen more as regulatory initiatives rather than fiscal issues. In February, the Parliamentarian ruled against the inclusion of a $15-an hour federal minimum wage in the COVID-19 assistance reconciliation bill.

After reviewing more than 2,000 pages of the “Build Back better” bill, lawmakers claim she already rejected two previous immigration proposals. She is expected to approve the new language regarding immigration in the bill.

Most of the time, the majority will respect the decisions made by parliamentarians. To overturn them, senators will need to have 60 votes.

The “vote-arama” is the session that precedes the Senate’s final vote. Here, amendments are allowed until both sides agree to end the discussion.

    PARTY UNITY REQUIRED AT THE FINISH LINE

    In the end, Senate Democrats must stick together to pass the reconciliation bill, since no Republican support is expected. Democrats are currently in need of all members for this measure. But at least two moderate Senate Democrats expressed concern about the “Build Back better” plan and it is now uncertain if they will support it.

Joe Manchin, Senator from West Virginia, hasn’t committed to voting in favor of the program and asked lawmakers to take their time to get it passed. West Virginia Democrat, Joe Manchin, opposes the provisions regarding paid family leaves and objected some environmental measures like tax incentives for electric vehicle.

One reason the bill was cut was Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s opposition to its initial price of $3.5 trillion. However, unlike Manchin she has yet to publicly support the bill.