Reconciliation (Senate)

Reconciliation is a legislative process of the United States Congress that allows expedited passage of certain budgetary legislation on spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit with a simple majority vote in both the House (218 votes) and Senate (51 votes). Senate rules prohibit filibustering and impose a 20 hour cap on the total time for debate, motions and amendments related to reconciliation bills. The procedure also exists in the House of Representatives, but the House regularly passes rules that constrain debate and amendments, so reconciliation has had a less significant impact on that body.

The process was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and was first used in 1980. Reconciliation rules allow budget related adjustments, but larger policy changes that are extraneous to the budget are limited by "Byrd Rule", an amendment named after Democratic Senator Robert Byrd that was passed in 1990.

Reconciliation bills can be passed on spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit once a year per topic unless Congress passes a revised budget resolution for that fiscal year (under section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act). As an example, if a budget resolution's reconciliation instructions affect both spending and revenues, no further reconciliation legislation can occur on these topics in the same fiscal year without a revised budget resolution.

The reconciliation process arose from the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Over time, it has developed into a procedure for implementing some policy decisions and assumptions embraced in a budget resolution in a way that was unforeseen when the Budget Act was enacted. Under the original design of the Budget Act, reconciliation had a fairly narrow purpose: it was expected to be used together with the second budget resolution adopted in the fall, was to apply to a single fiscal year, and be directed primarily at spending and revenue legislation acted on between the adoption of the first and second budget resolutions.

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