Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Reconciliation in a Tidy 1 Page Summary

March 9, 2010

Paz, I read your blog for its gratuitous vulgarity, adult situations, and occasional comic value.

So why are you writing about arcane parliamentary procedures instead of Jesse McCartney‘s beer pong skills?

I don’t know. But you’re here and I’m here, so let’s do this.

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WHAT IS RECONCILIATION?

Reconciliation is a rule introduced in 1974 so the Senate could pass budget bills without being filibustered.

If you haven’t shot yourself in the face yet, read on.

The filibuster, as we know from Jimmy Stewart and Homer Simpson, is how the Senate minority can block a bill by refusing to end debate. Keep talking, and there’s never a vote.

It takes 60 Senators to stop a filibuster.

But what if you only have 59 Senators — like the Democrats do now — but you still really, really wanna pass a bill…

Boom. Reconciliation.

WHY WAS RECONCILIATION CREATED?

Reconciliation was created in the Balanced Budget Act of 1974.

Sometimes, went the thinking of the day, there are things too important to be prevented by Senators bitching.

Namely, budgets.

What if a few Senators filibustered a budget and the whole country ground to a halt while Senator Jackass preened for a few extra minutes of face time on CNN?

Despite CNN not existing for another 5 years, people thought the aforementioned scenario would suck. So there was reconciliation.

And it was good.

At first, it was used only for budgets. But politicians quickly realized they could ALSO use it to jam whatever they wanted through the Senate without filibuster.

So some of that shit went down.

And a certain Senator named Robert Byrd was none too pleased.

THE BYRD RULE

It’s 1985.

Feathered hair, Firebird convertibles, and movies with the words “Teen” and “Wolf” are all the rage.

And Senator Robert Byrd — who today is 92 years old and still gainfully employed by the federal government, although he probably shouldn’t even be allowed to operate a motor vehicle — is PISSED.

He correctly believes reconciliation is being abused like a 10 cent whore — and not the good kind.

So he writes the Byrd Rule, which basically says reconciliation can only be used for issues dealing directly with the budget.

Brilliant. And who gets to decide if your bill passes the Byrd Rule, thus qualifying for reconciliation?

Ronald Reagan’s ghost.

Or the Senate Parliamentarian. Whoever’s less dead.

WHO IS THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN?

Meet Alan Frumin.

The Fruminator.

When the Senate has a procedural question — like how long should bathroom breaks be — Alan flips through a rulebook the size of a small Buick and says who gets to go potty and when.

This requires a college degree. And bifocals.

The Senate Parliamentarian isn’t elected — he’s appointed by the Senate majority. And they can fire him whenever they damn well please.

Alan Frumin was appointed in 2001 by the Republicans after they fired Robert Dove for disagreeing with them.

Republicans are currently going Naomi Campbell over whether Frumin can be trusted. Funny… they appointed him. Whatever, that’s politics.

But here’s the real kick in the ass.

Even after the Parliamentarian decides if a bill can be reconciled, he just advises the Presiding Officer of the Senate on his ruling — he’s the one who makes the call.

The Presiding Officer in this case is the President of the Senate… Joe Biden.

So in theory, Obama could submit a bill on Federal Basketball Inflation Requirements and be assured it will qualify for reconciliation.

But he’d have to convince 51 Senators to get real comfortable with a creative interpretation of the rules.

And in an election year — or probably in any year — that ain’t gonna happen.

So instead, Obama is submitting 11 pages of modifications with a decent shot at passing the Byrd Rule.

HOW RECONCILIATION WORKS

1. Congress passes the Senate Health Care Reform bill (the one that passed Senate in December 2009) with “reconciliation instructions”. These notes tell certain Senate committees to pass amendments to the bill.

2. The Senate committees draft their amendments. Specifically, these will be made up of the 11 pages of modifications President Obama proposed that reconcile the Senate Bill and the House Health Reform Bill (the one that passed the House in November, 2009).

The tricky part is the amendments can ONLY deal with issues related to the budget (per the Byrd Rule). So Obama can’t change a whole lot.

3. The committees pass their amendments and send them to the Budget Committee, which combines everything into what’s called an Omnibus Bill.

4. The Senate Parliamentarian looks at the Omnibus Bill and  decides whether the amendments deal directly with the budget (i.e. satisfy the Byrd Rule).

5. The Parliamentarian issues his advice to the Presiding Officer of the Senate — Joe Biden.

6. If Joe overrules anything the Parliamentarian advises, it can be challenged and subject to majority vote. Otherwise, the Omnibus gets debated for 20 hours. There will be bitching. Possibly exploding blood vessels.

7. Senate votes on the Omnibus. It only takes a majority to pass (51 votes, not 60). And filibusters ain’t allowed.

That’s as simply as it can be explained without a law degree.

HAS RECONCILIATION EVER BEEN USED?… IS RECONCILIATION A SNEAKY TRICK?… DO THESE JEANS MAKE MY ASS LOOK FAT?

Many times, depends who you ask, and yes but I like it anyway.

Reconciliation has been used 21 times since 1974 — 16 times by Republicans, 5 times by Democrats.

It’s been used to pass a lot of stuff you’ve heard of, like:

* The Welfare Reform Act (1996) – Republicans

* The Bush tax cuts (2001, 2003) – Republicans

* The COBRA health act (1986) – Democrats

Fun Fact (minus fun): COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Funner Fact: Clinton wanted to use reconciliation to pass his own Health Reform Act in 1993. But Senator Byrd bucked his party and said health care was a bridge too far. Actually, he used a lot more words than that.

But is reconciliation a sneaky trick?

Only when its being used against you.

Democrats — including Obama — threw a tantrum in 2005 when Republicans tried to use reconciliation to pass oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. And Republicans clearly aren’t thrilled now as Democrats attempt to reconcile health care reform.

Turns out no one’s for reconciliation unless they’re using it.

The only person who seems to have remained absolutely consistent on the issue since 1974 is good ol Senator Byrd, who continues to preach reconciliation should only be used for budgetary issues.

At the end of the day, its hard to consider reconciliation a “sneaky trick” since there’s nothing explicitly sneaky about it — its a senate rule. Until there’s a rule that modifies it or clarifies the Byrd Rule, its perfectly acceptable to use — and has been several times by both parties over the last 3 decades.

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So that’s the long and the short of it.

But mostly the long of it.