Budget Despite the Obligations
Budget reconciliation is a delicate and important task of both Houses of Congress designed to expedite the enactment of certain specific budgetary acts in the US Senate. As the budget reconciliation authority it is vested with the responsibility to make sure that all measures passed by the Houses of Congress meet the requirements of the US constitution and the supreme law of the United States. The use of reconciliation means that all legislation affecting the US budget are essentially scrutinized and measured to ensure that federal receipts and expenditures closely match each other. All laws which are not strictly necessary are eliminated and only those which are mandated by the constitution are kept.
For many years, Republicans have criticized Democrats for using reconciliation as an end-run around the elected branches of government. For example, the last president of the United States used reconciliation as leverage to pass ObamaCare, a bill which was strongly opposed by most Republicans and a number of Democrats. Although many republicans saw this as a way to circumvent the will of the people and push through a partisan bill, the move resulted in millions of extra Americans covered by healthcare reform initiatives which the democrats labelled as socialist experiments. Nevertheless, the republicans still view reconciliation as a valuable tool to reduce the size of the national debt and return America to a healthier economy.
Because of this, Majority Leader Harry Reid has proposed an amendment to reconciliation that would eliminate the filibusters of legislation which have already been voted on. The new amendment would prevent a member of Congress from introducing a bill during the legislative session that may be subject to a filibuster. Democrats say that the proposal does not go far enough. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D Nev.) said that if the Senate passes a budget resolution that prevents reconciliation the House will have no choice but to take up all the stalled legislation once again. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D Nev.) said that the majority leader met with republicans on the Hill and explained the proposal to them.
How to Use Obligations to Balance the Budget Despite the Obligations
Many congressional republicans believe the Democrats want to use reconciliation to limit debate and increase their leverage to force Republicans to get more cooperation on other legislation. But Harry Reid told reporters that the majority leader will not bring up reconciliation legislation without both houses of Congress and the American public being satisfied with it. He said that legislation which guarantees a balanced tax cut without increasing the national debt will do better in the general election. “The American people have to see a balanced bill when they vote on it,” he said. “If they don’t, they’ll go either way, between [the Democrats] or the Republicans.”
The House has until the end of this month to enact reconciliation legislation or another year to attempt at doing so. If the House does not use reconciliation, the president can use the budgetary reconciliation instructions contained in his executive order to enact legislation quickly. President Bush has also indicated that he is open to using reconciliation instructions to enact legislation quickly.
” reconciliation is essentially a tool used to lessen the budgetary impact of legislation, but it isn’t meant to balance the budget,” said David Norton, a former member of both the House and Senate budget committees. ” reconciliation is important because it prevents a government shutdown and it also eliminates the need for additional legislation,” he added. “The purpose of reconciliation is to show the public how the revenue will be spent, but it does not intend to balance the budget,” said Norton. ” reconciliation merely reflects the revenue picture, it doesn’t reflect the economic situation or the spending habits of members of Congress,” he concluded. Ways and means committees will probably continue their war on healthcare reform until they can get all the Democrats on board and pass a comprehensive healthcare bill.