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The Conversation with Dasha Burns

Byrd nerds: Why the byzantine process of budget reconciliation exists and how it actually works

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Government, Politics

4.01.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 using the process known as budget reconciliation. The upside? No filibuster is allowed. You only need a majority to approve a reconciliation bill. And the downside? There are strict rules about what can be included.  On the last episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Eric Ueland and Greg D’Angelo, two GOP budget nerds, previewed the final challenges that the Inflation Reduction Act would face to pass the Senate. They even nailed one of the parliamentarian’s rulings: she nixed a portion of the bill that would have applied inflation caps to the private pharmaceutical market. For their most significant policies, neither party has sixty votes. Reconciliation is how presidents get big things through Congress now. And it’s likely to be that way for the foreseeable future. To understand how major policy changes can happen these days, you need to know how this byzantine process works. In this week’s episode, Eric and Greg step back and explain the long history of reconciliation and how it has come to dominate lawmaking in ways never anticipated when the process was created in the 1970s. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Eric Ueland is a commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.Greg D'Angelo is a partner at the Nickles Group.Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is producer for POLITICO audio.Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio.Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

On our last episode, we brought you a conversation with two Republican congressional budget experts.

0:06.8

They walked us through the final hurdles that the Inflation Reduction Act would need to

0:10.7

clear in order to pass the Senate.

0:15.4

Democrats in Congress used the process known as budget reconciliation.

0:20.3

The upside, no filibuster is allowed.

0:22.9

You only need a majority to approve a reconciliation bill.

0:26.8

On the downside, there are strict rules about what can be included.

0:32.9

Our two budget nerds previewed the final challenges that the bill would likely face from Republicans.

0:39.1

They mailed one of the parliamentarians' rulings.

0:42.7

She nixed a portion of the bill that would have applied inflation caps to the private

0:47.6

pharmaceutical market.

0:49.6

But everything else in the Democratic bill survived the parliamentarians' review.

0:54.1

After some last minute tax changes to appease Senator Kiersten Sinema, the Inflation Reduction

0:59.0

Act passed the Senate 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

1:07.2

The House is taking up the bill today, Friday, and it will likely be on Joe Biden's desk

1:12.1

this weekend.

1:13.1

We're off this week, but our wonky breakdown of the reconciliation process proved to be

1:18.4

a surprise hit with listeners.

1:20.8

So we went back into the editing room and made this director's cut of our nearly three-hour

1:25.0

conversation with Eric Uland and Greg D'Angelo.

1:29.5

Instead of focusing on the last minute maneuvering before the parliamentarian, they step back

1:34.3

and explain the long history of reconciliation and how it has come to dominate lawmaking

...

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