Byrd Rule

The Byrd Rule is a United States Senate rule that amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to allow Senators during the Reconciliation Process to block legislation if it possibly would increase significantly the federal deficit beyond a ten-year term or is otherwise an "extraneous matter" as set forth in the Budget Act. It is named after West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd.

Reconciliation generally involves legislation that changes the Federal budget deficit (or conceivably, the surplus). The "Byrd Rule" (2 U.S.C. § 644) was adopted in 1985 and amended in 1990 to outline which provisions reconciliation can and cannot be used for. The Byrd Rule defines a provision to be "extraneous" and therefore ineligible for reconciliation in six cases:

Any senator may raise a procedural objection to a provision believed to be extraneous, which will then be ruled on by the Presiding Officer of the United States Senate, customarily on the advice of the Parliamentarian of the United States Senate. A vote of 60 senators is required to overturn the ruling. The Presiding Officer need not necessarily follow the advice of the Parliamentarian. However, the advice of the Parliamentarian has not been overruled by the Presiding Officer since 1975. The Parliamentarian can also simply be replaced by the Senate Majority Leader. In 2001, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott fired Parliamentarian Robert Dove after dissatisfaction with his rulings, replacing him with Alan Frumin.

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