{{Short description|United States legislative process}} {{Use American English|date = April 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date = April 2019}}
'''Budget reconciliation''' is a special parliamentary procedure of the United States Congress set up to expedite the passage of certain federal budget legislation in the Senate. The procedure overrides the Senate's filibuster rules, which may otherwise require a 60-vote supermajority for passage. Bills described as reconciliation bills can pass the Senate by a simple majority of 51 votes or 50 votes plus the vice president's as the tie-breaker. The reconciliation procedure also applies to the House of Representatives, but it has minor significance there, as the rules of the House of Representatives do not have a ''de facto'' supermajority requirement.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Davis |first1=Jeff |title=How Reconciliation Would Work |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/72605/how-reconciliation-would-work |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=August 4, 2019 |date=January 19, 2010}}</ref> Because of greater polarization, gridlock, and filibustering in the Senate in recent years, budget reconciliation has come to play an important role in how the United States Congress legislates.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reynolds|first=Molly E.|date=January 10, 2022|title="A Free-Range Chicken that Can Run Wherever the Majority Wants It To": Budget Reconciliation and the Contemporary U.S. Senate|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/for-2021-2035/html|journal=The Forum|volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=629–647 |language=en|doi=10.1515/for-2021-2035|s2cid=245802229 |issn=1540-8884|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Budget reconciliation bills can deal with mandatory spending, revenue, and the federal debt limit, and the Senate can pass one bill per year affecting each subject. Congress can thus pass a maximum of three reconciliation bills per year, though in practice it has often passed a single reconciliation bill affecting both spending and revenue.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |url=http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/introduction-to-budget-reconciliation |title=Introduction to Budget 'Reconciliation' |orig-year=2015 |work=Center on Budget and Policy Priorities |access-date=July 18, 2017 |date=November 9, 2016 |author1=Reich, David |author2=Kogan, Richard}}</ref> Policy changes that are extraneous to the budget are limited by the Byrd rule, which also prohibits reconciliation bills from increasing the federal deficit after a ten-year period or making changes to Social Security. Reconciliation does not apply to discretionary spending, which is instead managed through the annual appropriations process.
The reconciliation process was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and was first used in 1980. Bills passed using the reconciliation process include the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
==Process== ===Reconciliation process=== {{See also|United States budget process}}
Reconciliation is an optional part of the annual congressional budgetary process.<ref name="lynch1">Lynch (2016), p. 1</ref> Typically, the reconciliation process begins when the president submits a budget to Congress early in the calendar year. In response, each chamber of Congress begins a parallel budget process, starting in the Senate Budget Committee and the House Budget Committee.<ref name="jvd3032"/> Each budget committee proposes a budget resolution setting spending targets for the upcoming fiscal year; in order to begin the reconciliation process, each house of Congress must pass identical budget resolutions that contain reconciliation instructions.<ref name="jdavis1">{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Jeff |title=The Rule That Broke the Senate |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/15/how-budget-reconciliation-broke-congress-215706/ |access-date=March 29, 2019 |publisher=Politico |date=October 15, 2017}}</ref> Other committees then approve bills that meet the spending targets proposed by its respective budget committees, and these individual bills are consolidated into a single omnibus bill. Each house of Congress then begins consideration of its respective omnibus bills under its respective rules of debate.<ref name="jvd3032">Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 30–32</ref>
The reconciliation process has a relatively minor impact in the House of Representatives, but it has important implications in the Senate. In contrast to most other legislation, senators cannot use the filibuster to indefinitely prevent consideration of a reconciliation bill, because Senate debate over reconciliation bills is limited to twenty hours. Thus, reconciliation bills only require the support of a simple majority of the Senate for passage, rather than the sixty-vote supermajority required to invoke cloture and defeat a filibuster.{{efn|Reconciliation is not the only legislative process not subject to a Senate filibuster, but other processes, such as trade promotion authority, only apply in narrow circumstances.<ref>Reynolds (2017), pp. 6–8</ref>}}<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), p. 25</ref> Senators could theoretically prevent passage of a reconciliation bill by offering an unending series of amendments in a process colloquially known as a "vote-a-rama",{{efn|The "Vote-a-Rama" does not conflict with the twenty hour limit on debate over reconciliation bills because that limit applies only to debate, and not to the process of voting on amendments.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), p. 31</ref>}} but, unlike the modern filibuster, senators introducing these amendments must stand up and verbally offer the amendments.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 31–32</ref>
Though the reconciliation process allows a bill to bypass the filibuster in the Senate, it does not affect other basic requirements for the passage of a bill, which are laid out in the Constitution's Presentment Clause. The House and Senate still must pass an identical bill and present that bill to the president. The president can sign the bill into law or veto it, and Congress can override the president's veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress.
===Byrd Rule=== {{Further|Sunset provision#Budget Act and the Byrd Rule}} [[File:Walletssn2.gif|thumb|The Byrd Rule defines any reconciliation changes to Social Security as "extraneous"—and therefore ineligible for reconciliation.]]
The Byrd Rule, named for Senator Robert Byrd, was adopted in 1985 and amended in 1990.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heniff |first1=Bill, Jr. |title=The Budget Reconciliation Process: The Senate's "Byrd Rule" |date=November 22, 2016 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30862/16 |access-date=19 April 2019}}</ref> The Byrd Rule defines a provision to be "extraneous"—and therefore ineligible for reconciliation—in six cases:<ref name=":1"/>
# If it does not produce a change in outlays or revenues; # If it produces an outlay increase or revenue decrease when the instructed committee is not in compliance with its instructions; # If it is outside the jurisdiction of the committee that submitted the title or provision for inclusion in the reconciliation measure; # If it produces a change in outlays or revenues which is merely incidental to the nonbudgetary components of the provision; # If it would increase the deficit for a fiscal year beyond those covered by the reconciliation measure (usually a period of ten years);{{efn|Currently, the Byrd Rule prevents an increase in the deficit beyond a ten-year "budget window." Some members of Congress have proposed extending the budget window to 20 or more years.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jagoda |first1=Naomi |title=Rift opens in GOP over budget strategy |url=https://thehill.com/policy/finance/339767-rift-opens-in-gop-over-budget-strategy/ |access-date=March 29, 2019 |newspaper=The Hill |date=June 28, 2017}}</ref>}} or # If it recommends changes in Social Security.
The Byrd Rule does not prevent the inclusion of extraneous provisions, but relies on objecting senators to remove provisions by raising procedural objections.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), p. 38</ref> Any senator may raise a procedural objection to a provision believed to be extraneous ("Byrdable"), which will then be ruled on by the presiding officer, customarily on the advice of the Senate parliamentarian: a vote of sixty senators is required to overturn their ruling. While the vice president (as president of the Senate) can overrule the parliamentarian, {{as of|2010|lc=y}} this had not been done since 1975.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jeffrey|last=Young|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/61376-healthcare-reform-and-reconciliation-a-bad-mix-ex-parliamentarian-says/ |title=Healthcare reform and reconciliation a bad mix, ex-parliamentarian says |quote=[Robert Dove] added, though, that 'no vice president, frankly, since Nelson Rockefeller in 1975, has exercised that right.' |work=The Hill |access-date=March 2, 2010|date=February 17, 2010 }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2025|reason=current citation is from eight Congresses ago; also, the actual text of this article is no longer displayed on the original site}}
In 2001, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott fired Parliamentarian Robert Dove after bipartisan dissatisfaction with his rulings, and replaced him with the previous Democratic appointee, Alan Frumin.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/08/us/rules-keeper-is-dismissed-by-senate-official-says.html |title=Rules Keeper Is Dismissed By Senate, Official Says |last=Rosenbaum |first=David E. |date=May 8, 2001 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 24, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
===Other restrictions=== Congress can pass up to three reconciliation bills per year, with each bill addressing the major topics of reconciliation: revenue, spending, and the federal debt limit. However, if Congress passes a reconciliation bill affecting more than one of those topics, it cannot pass another reconciliation bill later in the year affecting one of the topics addressed by the previous reconciliation bill.<ref name=":1"/> In practice, reconciliation bills have usually been passed once per year at most.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 30–31</ref>
Other restrictions have also been applied to reconciliation. For example, from 2007 to 2011, Congress adopted a rule preventing reconciliation from being used to increase deficits.<ref name="dmatthews1"/>
==History==
===Origins===
Because of growing concerns over deficits and presidential control of the budget process, many members of Congress sought to reform the congressional budgetary process in the early 1970s. Charles Schultze, a former director of the Bureau of the Budget, suggested a new process in which Congress would exercise greater control of the budget process by setting overall spending targets. Schultze proposed that Congress create a new type of legislation, the "final budget reconciliation bill," to ensure that the various budget-related bills passed by each congressional committee collectively fell within the overall spending targets passed by Congress. Schultze's ideas were adopted by Congress with the passage of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, which established the reconciliation process, the Congressional Budget Office, and standing budget committees in the House and Senate.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 3, 26–28</ref> Under the original design of the Budget Act, reconciliation was expected to apply to revenue and spending within a single fiscal year.<ref name="meyersandjoyce">{{cite book|first1=Roy T. |last1=Meyers |first2= Philip G. |last2=Joyce|chapter=Congressional Budgeting at Age 30: Is It Worth Saving?|title=Public Budgeting and Finance|volume=25|year=2005|pages= 68–82|chapter-url=http://userpages.umbc.edu/~meyers/cbpat30.pdf}}</ref>
Although reconciliation was originally understood to be for the purpose of either reducing deficits or increasing surpluses, the language of the 1974 act refers only to "changes" in revenue and spending amounts, not specifically to increases or decreases. Former parliamentarian of the Senate Robert Dove noted that in 1975 Senator Russell Long convinced the parliamentarian to protect a tax cut bill.<ref>{{citation |date=March 12, 2010 |title=Use of Senate Filibuster |format=Video |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?292506-1/use-senate-filibuster&start=3002 |publisher=C-SPAN |location=Washington, Connecticut |department=Senate Public Affairs Event |id=Sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute|time=0:50:00–0:57:20}}</ref> That bill was vetoed by President Gerald Ford.<ref>Reynolds (2017), pp. 84–85</ref>
In the late 1970s, the process of reconciliation was largely ignored, in part because reconciliation could only be used during a brief window. In 1980, Congress amended the reconciliation process, allowing it to be used at the start of the budget process. Later that year, President Jimmy Carter signed the first budget bill passed using the reconciliation process; the bill contained about $8 billion in budget cuts.<ref>Reynolds (2017), pp. 84–85</ref>
===Ronald Reagan=== [[File:Robert Byrd official portrait.jpg|thumb|Senator Robert Byrd]]
Reconciliation emerged as an important legislative tool during the Reagan administration. A coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats used the reconciliation process to pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, which contained various spending cuts. In addition to bypassing the filibuster, the reconciliation process allowed Congress to pass these spending cuts through a budget resolution and a single reconciliation bill, rather than through the traditional method of passing several bills addressing each area of spending.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 32–34</ref>
In the early 1980s, Congress passed reconciliation bills containing provisions that did not directly relate to the budget. For example, one reconciliation bill decreased the number of individuals on the Federal Communications Commission. In response, Senator Robert Byrd led passage of an amendment to strike "extraneous" amendments from reconciliation bills, and Congress permanently adopted the Byrd Rule in 1990.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 36–38</ref> The reconciliation process remained an important tool of congressional majorities even after the passage of the Byrd Rule.<ref name="dmatthews1">{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Dylan |title=Budget reconciliation, explained |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13709518/budget-reconciliation-explained |access-date=March 29, 2019 |website=Vox |date=November 23, 2016}}</ref>
===George H. W. Bush===
During George H. W. Bush's presidency, it was used to pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which reduced federal spending and increased federal revenue.<ref>Lynch (2018), p. 7</ref>
===Bill Clinton===
After taking office in 1993, Democratic President Bill Clinton won passage of his proposed budget, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 through reconciliation. In 1996, he signed another major reconciliation bill, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.<ref name="dmatthews1"/> In 1997, Congress passed the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, a reconciliation bill that reduced taxes and increased the federal budget deficit. The tax cut bill was paired with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which reduced spending, and the two bills were signed into law by President Clinton.<ref>Keith and Heniff Jr. (2005), pp. 17–18</ref>
In 1999, the Congress used reconciliation to pass the Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999, which represented the first time that the reconciliation process was used to increase deficits without a companion bill that reduced spending. It was vetoed by President Clinton. A similar situation happened in 2000, when the Senate again used reconciliation to pass the Marriage Tax Relief Reconciliation Act 2000, which was also vetoed by Clinton. At the time, the use of the reconciliation procedure to pass such bills was controversial.<ref>Keith and Heniff Jr. (2005), pp. 17–18</ref>
===George W. Bush=== Upon taking office in 2001, Republican President George W. Bush sought the passage of major tax cuts, but his party controlled only a narrow majority in the Senate. To avoid a filibuster, Bush and his congressional allies used reconciliation to pass the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, two major tax cut bills that reduced federal revenues.<ref>Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 40–42</ref> To comply with the Byrd Rule, the tax cuts contained sunset provisions, meaning that, absent further legislation, tax rates would return to their pre-2001 levels in 2011.<ref>Heniff Jr. (2016), pp. 15–16</ref> Portions of the Bush tax cuts were made permanent through the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, though some of the tax cuts for high earners were not extended.<ref>Reynolds (2017), pp. 125–126</ref>
===Barack Obama===
Democrats won control of the presidency and increased their control over Congress in the 2008 elections, and newly inaugurated President Barack Obama and his congressional allies focused on passing a major healthcare reform bill in the 111th Congress. The Senate passed a major healthcare bill in late 2009 without using the reconciliation process; because Democrats had a sixty-seat supermajority in the Senate, they were able to defeat Republican attempts to block the bill via the filibuster. While the House continued to debate its own healthcare bill, Democrats lost their sixty-seat supermajority in the Senate following the death of Ted Kennedy.{{efn|Republican Scott Brown won a special election held to fill the vacancy caused by Kennedy's death.<ref name="jvd4345"/>}}
Following the loss of the Democratic supermajority in the Senate, House Democrats agreed to pass the Senate bill, while Senate Democrats agreed to use the reconciliation process to pass a second bill that would make various adjustments to the first bill.<ref>Heniff Jr. (2016), p. 18</ref> The original Senate bill was passed by the House and signed into law by President Obama as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Subsequently, the House and Senate used reconciliation to pass the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which contained several alterations to the ACA.<ref name="jvd4345">Jacobi & Van Dam (2013), pp. 43–45</ref> In 2016, Republicans passed a reconciliation bill to repeal parts of the ACA, but it was vetoed by President Obama.<ref>{{cite news |first=Amber |last=Phillips |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/09/the-budget-rule-youve-never-heard-of-that-ties-republicans-hands-on-obamacare/ |title=Analysis {{!}} The budget rule you've never heard of that ties Republicans' hands on Obamacare |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 9, 2017 |access-date=May 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author-last1=Moe|author-first1=Alex|date=6 January 2016|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/congress-send-obamacare-repeal-president-n491316 |title=Congress Sends Obamacare Repeal to President for First Time |work=NBC News |access-date=May 7, 2017 |language=en}}</ref>
===Donald Trump (first term) ===
After gaining control of Congress and the presidency in the 2016 elections, Republicans sought to partially repeal the ACA and pass a major tax cut bill in the 115th United States Congress. As the party lacked a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, they sought to implement both policies through separate reconciliation bills, with the healthcare bill passed using the reconciliation process for fiscal year 2017 and the tax cut bill passed using the reconciliation process for fiscal year 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Viebeck |first1=Elise |title=Why Senate Republicans are in such a rush this month on health care |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/why-senate-republicans-are-in-such-a-rush-this-month-on-health-care/2017/09/20/111befe4-9d4b-11e7-9c8d-cf053ff30921_story.html |access-date=March 30, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 20, 2017}}</ref> Republicans were unable to pass their healthcare bill, the American Health Care Act of 2017, because three Senate Republicans and all Senate Democrats voted against it, preventing the bill from gaining majority support in the Senate.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/us/politics/obamacare-partial-repeal-senate-republicans-revolt.html |title=Senate Rejects Slimmed-Down Obamacare Repeal as McCain Votes No |last1=Pear |first1=Robert |date=July 27, 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 31, 2017 |last2=Kaplan |first2=Thomas |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
With the defeat of their healthcare bill, congressional Republicans changed their focus to a separate reconciliation bill that would cut taxes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Reynolds |first1=Molly E. |title=Four lessons from the Senate tax bill |url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/12/02/four-lessons-from-the-senate-tax-bill/ |access-date=March 29, 2019 |publisher=Brookings Institution |date=December 2, 2017}}</ref> Both houses of Congress passed a tax cut bill in late 2017, though the Byrd Rule required the stripping of some provisions deemed extraneous.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Faler |first1=Brian |title=Senate passes tax bill, teeing up final House vote |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/19/congress-tax-bill-votes-304908 |access-date=March 29, 2019 |website=Politico |date=December 20, 2017}}</ref> After both houses of Congress passed an identical tax cut bill, President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 into law in December 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wagner |first1=John |title=Trump signs sweeping tax bill into law |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/12/22/trump-signs-sweeping-tax-bill-into-law/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 22, 2017}}</ref> Because of Byrd Rule restrictions, the individual tax cuts contained in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 were set to expire in 2026. Following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in Trump's second term in July 2025, the tax cuts were made permanent.
===Joe Biden=== The American Rescue Plan was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package proposed by President Joe Biden to speed up the United States' recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. He planned to pass it as one of his first bills into law through the 117th Congress.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 15, 2021|title=American Rescue Plan: Inside Biden's $1.9 Trillion Stimulus|url=https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/american-rescue-plan-biden-third-stimulus|access-date=January 16, 2021|website=SmartAsset|language=en}}</ref> First proposed on January 14, 2021, the package built upon many of the measures in the CARES Act from March 2020 and in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 from December.<ref name="cnn.com">{{Cite web |last1=Luhby |first1=Tami |last2=Lobosco |first2=Katie |date=January 14, 2021 |title=Here's what's in Biden's $1.9 trillion economic rescue package |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/biden-economic-rescue-package-coronavirus-stimulus/index.html |access-date=2021-01-16 |website=CNN}}</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news |last1=Tankersley |first1=Jim |last2=Crowley |first2=Michael |date=2021-01-14 |title=Here are the highlights of Biden's $1.9 trillion 'American Rescue Plan.' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/us/biden-american-rescue-plan.html |access-date=2021-01-16 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The parliamentarian of the United States Senate ruled on February 21 that a provision calling for a $15 minimum wage increase in the American Rescue Plan could not be considered under Reconciliation because of the Byrd Rule.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kapur |first1=Sahil |last2=Caldwell |first2=Leigh Ann |title=Senate ruling says Democrats can't put $15 minimum wage in Covid relief bill |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-ruling-says-democrats-can-t-put-15-minimum-wage-n1258913?cid=sm_npd_ms_fb_lw&fbclid=IwAR2iRBlIZ8l95pmhyv3xM53lTc6S-qoAoOETgU_o57zx4qlGaAIcCtJMjmI |access-date=February 26, 2021 |work=NBC News |date=February 25, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The bill was signed into law on March 11, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Grace|last=Segers|title=Biden signs $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-signs-covid-relief-bill-american-rescue-plan-into-law/|access-date=April 9, 2021|website=CBS News|date=March 12, 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In April 2021, the Senate parliamentarian—an in-house rules expert—determined that the Senate can pass two budget reconciliation bills in 2021: one focused on fiscal year 2021 and one focused on fiscal year 2022. In addition, the Senate can pass additional budget reconciliation bills by describing them as a ''revised'' budget resolution that contains budget reconciliation instructions.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Li|last1=Zhou|first2=Ella|last2=Nilsen|url=https://www.vox.com/2021/4/5/22367832/senate-democrats-budget-reconciliation-filibuster|title=Senate Democrats can now pass more bills with 51 votes through budget reconciliation after parliamentarian ruling|website=Vox|date=April 5, 2021}}</ref> However, the parliamentarian later clarified that the "auto-discharge" rule that allows a budget resolution to bypass a Budget Committee vote and be brought directly to the Senate floor does not apply to a revised budget resolution.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Paul M.|last=Krawzak|date=June 2, 2021|title=Democrats' reconciliation strategy dealt blow by Senate parliamentarian|url=https://www.rollcall.com/2021/06/02/democrats-reconciliation-strategy-dealt-blow-senate-parliamentarian/|access-date=June 28, 2021|website=Roll Call|language=en}}</ref>
As a result of this ruling, a revised budget resolution would need to be approved by a majority vote of the Budget Committee before proceeding to the Senate floor, or deadlocked with a tied vote and then brought to the Senate floor via a motion to discharge. In a 50-50 Senate where committees are evenly divided between parties, this has the functional effect of requiring at least one member of the minority party on the Budget Committee to be present in order to provide a quorum for a vote. Considering the partisan nature of reconciliation legislation, it is highly unlikely that a member of the minority party will cooperate with the majority by providing a quorum on the committee, thus practically limiting the majority of a 50-50 tied Senate to one reconciliation bill per fiscal year.
===Donald Trump (second term) ===
After gaining control of Congress and the presidency in the 2024 elections, Republicans sought to extend the 2017 tax cuts in the form of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in the 119th United States Congress. With a narrow 51–50 vote in the Senate and a 218–214 vote in the House to agree to the Senate version of the bill, Trump signed the bill into law on July 4, 2025.
==List of reconciliation bills== The following bills have been enacted into law using reconciliation:<ref>Lynch (2018), pp. 2–3</ref>
{| class="wikitable" |+ ! Bill ! Link ! Year !President |- | Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980 |{{USPL|96|499}} | 1980 |Jimmy Carter |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 |{{USPL|97|35}} | 1981 | rowspan="7" |Ronald Reagan |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1982 |{{USPL|97|253}} | 1982 |- | Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) |{{USPL|97|248}} | 1982 |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1983 |{{USPL|98|270}} | 1984 |- | Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) |{{USPL|99|272}} | 1986 |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 |{{USPL|99|509}} | 1986 |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 |{{USPL|100|203}} | 1987 |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 |{{USPL|101|239}} | 1989 | rowspan="2" |George H. W. Bush |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 |{{USPL|101|508}} | 1990 |- | Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 |{{USPL|103|66}} | 1993 | rowspan="4" |Bill Clinton |- | Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act |{{USPL|104|193}} | 1996 |- | Balanced Budget Act of 1997 |{{USPL|105|33}} | 1997 |- | Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 |{{USPL|105|34}} | 1997 |- | Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) |{{USPL|107|16}} | 2001 | rowspan="5" |George W. Bush |- | Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 |{{USPL|108|27}} | 2003 |- | Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 |{{USPL|109|171}} | 2006 |- | Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA) |{{USPL|109|222}} | 2006 |- | College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 |{{USPL|110|84}} | 2007 |- | Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 |{{USPL|111|152}} | 2010 |Barack Obama |- | Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 |{{USPL|115|97}} | 2017 |Donald Trump |- | American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 |{{USPL|117|2}} | 2021 | rowspan="2" |Joe Biden |- | Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 |{{USPL|117|169}} | 2022 |- | One Big Beautiful Bill Act |{{USPL|119|21}} | 2025 |Donald Trump |}
Since 1980, four reconciliation bills have passed Congress but were vetoed by the president:<ref>Heniff Jr. (2016), p. 7</ref> {| class="wikitable" |+ !Bill !Link !Year !President |- |Balanced Budget Act of 1995 |{{USBill|104|H.R.|2491}} |1995 | rowspan="3" |Bill Clinton |- |Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999 |{{USBill|106|H.R.|2488}} |1999 |- |Marriage Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000 |{{USBill|106|H.R.|4810}} |2000 |- |Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015 |{{USBill|114|H.R.|3762}} |2015 |Barack Obama |}
==See also== * Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 * Filibuster in the United States * Nuclear option
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Works cited=== {{Refbegin|2}} * {{cite web |last1=Heniff |first1=Bill Jr. |title=The Budget Reconciliation Process: The Senate's "Byrd Rule" |date=2016 |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30862.pdf |publisher=Congressional Research Service }} * {{citation |last1=Jacobi |first1=Tonja |last2=VanDam |first2=Jeff |title=The Filibuster and Reconciliation: The Future of Majoritarian Lawmaking in the U.S. Senate |journal=UC Davis Law Review |date=2013 |volume=47 |page=261 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2221712 |ssrn=2221712 |s2cid=155763015 |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/faculty-articles/13 |url-access=subscription }} * Keith, Robert, and Bill Henniff Jr. ''[https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs7304/m1/1/high_res_d/RL33030_2005Aug10.pdf The Budget Reconciliation Process: House and Senate Procedures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220729171307/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs7304/m1/1/high_res_d/RL33030_2005Aug10.pdf |date=July 29, 2022 }}.'' Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2005. * Lynch, Megan S. ''[http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30458.pdf The Budget Reconciliation Process: Timing of Legislative Action]'' Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2016. * {{cite book|last1=Lynch|first1=Megan S.|title=Budget Reconciliation Measures Enacted Into Law: 1980-2017|date=2018|publisher=Congressional Research Service|location=Washington, DC|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40480.pdf}} * {{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Molly E. |title=Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the U.S. Senate |date=2017 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0815729969}} {{Refend}}
==Further reading== {{Refbegin|2}} * Blumenthal, Paul. [https://sunlightfoundation.com/2010/03/03/a-brief-history-of-senate-reconciliation-votes/ "A Brief History of Senate Reconciliation Votes"], Sunlight Foundation, March 3, 2010 * Dauster, Bill. [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?position=all&page=S6135&dbname=1996_record "The Day the Senate Died: Budget Measure Weakens Minority."] ''Roll Call'', May 30, 1996, 5, reprinted in ''Congressional Record'' (June 12, 1996), vol. 142, S6135–36. * Dauster, Bill. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091028062256/http://geocities.com/~demcrat/frame7.html "The Monster That Ate the United States Senate."] ''Public Budgeting and Finance'', vol. 18, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 87–93. * Frumin, Alan S. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927161100/http://www.gpoaccess.gov//riddick/502-642.pdf "Congressional Budget"] in ''Riddick's Senate Procedure'', 502–642. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1992. * Lynch, Megan S. ''[http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41151.pdf The Budget Reconciliation Process: Timing of Committee Responses to Reconciliation Directives]'' Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2016. * Mann, Thomas E.; Norman J. Ornstein; Raffaela Wakeman; and Fogelson-Lubliner. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/opinion/07mann.html "Reconciling With the Past"], with [https://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/03/07/opinion/07opedchart_graphic.html chart]. ''The New York Times'', March 6, 2010. * {{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Molly E. |title=Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the U.S. Senate |date=2017 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0815729969}} * Smith, Hedrick. ''The Power Game''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988. {{ISBN|0-394-55447-7}} {{Refend}}
{{United States Congress}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Legislative branch of the United States government * Category:Terminology of the United States Congress