https://www.politico.com/newsletters/pl ... bit-492275Chuck Schumer’s 51-vote gambit
The Senate majority leader believes he's found a magical parliamentary trick that Democrats could use to unlock a third reconciliation bill.
SCHUMER PREPARES FOR RECONCILIATION PART II — AND III: If you know one thing about the arcane subject of budget reconciliation, it’s that it can be used to pass legislation through the Senate with just 51 votes rather than the 60 it takes to overcome a filibuster. If you know two things, it’s the simple majority rule and that reconciliation can be used only once every fiscal year. Congress didn’t pass a budget resolution last year, so Democrats used reconciliation left over from fiscal year 2021 to pass President JOE BIDEN’S $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. That means they still have the fiscal 2022 reconciliation bill left as a vehicle for portions of Biden’s infrastructure, tax, climate and social welfare agenda.
But what if, buried in the rules of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, there were a magical parliamentary trick that Democrats could use to unlock a third reconciliation bill this year? Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER believes he has found it. It’s called Section 304, and you’re about to start hearing about it a lot. This section of the law that governs the congressional budgeting process essentially says that Congress may revisit and amend an already-passed budget resolution, like the one used to pass the Covid relief package. Or at least that’s what Schumer aides are arguing. “Recently, top policy aides to Majority Leader Schumer made the argument to the Senate Parliamentarian that Section 304 allows for at least one additional set of reconciliation bills related to revenue, spending and the public debt to be considered for Fiscal Year 2021,” a Schumer aide previewing the strategy told us Sunday night.
While Democrats haven’t made a final decision on the legislative strategy, there is deep skepticism in both the White House and among Senate Democrats that any 60-vote bill on any significant issue is possible this year. It was already conventional wisdom that Biden is likely to be able to pass two reconciliation bills and almost nothing else. Now, Schumer may try to squeeze a third one out of the system. His office tells us that Section 304 has never been used before. If he goes forward with the plan, the Senate parliamentarian will once again be the most powerful person in Washington, just as she was over the debate about whether the minimum wage was eligible for inclusion in the last reconciliation bill.
It goes without saying that this is a bizarre way to govern. Nobody would design a system like this, where to pass even popular legislation senators seek to game a rickety budgeting process and the most important Hill staffers are now the experts on these arcane rules devised in 1974 for the purpose of deficit reduction. But as long as the filibuster remains, senators will continue to try to push the boundaries of what can be accomplished through reconciliation. Judge for yourself (or good luck trying). Here’s the fine print of Section 304: “At any time after the concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year has been agreed to pursuant to section 301, and before the end of such fiscal year, the two Houses may adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which revises or reaffirms the concurrent resolution on the budget for such fiscal year most recently agreed to.”
Here's Section 304 if you want to get your wonk on https://budgetcounsel.com/laws-and-rule ... he-budget/