Rules? We ain't got no rules.
We don't need no rules!
We don't have to show you no stinking rules!

there are many restrictions on the sort of things you can do under reconciliation rules.

i don't think creating any new bureaucracy is one of them. funding could be changed via reconciliation, and executive orders could direct how it's spent if current law allows it, but i don't think it could really work, at least not fully, under reconciliation rules.

the tax scam could certainly be reversed under reconciliation rules, though.

We haven't invested in anything for years. Roads, bridges, and healthcare. If we had Medicare for all the system could not handle it. No rural hospital, no urgent care. The emergency room would be flooded. And at today's fee rate it would take 40% of GDP. it will take years to fix.

I really don't know if it does.

But don't they have to wait for an official score?

arithmetic , , , , something GOPer's don't know well . . .

Who is going to stop them? These assholes stole the government. What makes anyone think they will abide by a rule when they ram the tax bill down our throats?

McConnell likes to think ahead. He doesn't want to get rid of a rule he might want to use himself someday. But there are ways he could get around it. Still, they all take time, and he doesn't have much time left.

They need a big win, and the tax scam is about all they have left. Honestly, I'm surprised they have played by the rules as long as they have.

There was a portion of the House bill that failed under the reconciliation rules http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/365670-house-will-have-to-vote-for-tax-cut-bill-again

Even the slowest coaches in our political media should be able to see how haphazardly this bill has been thrown together. If this is supposed to be epoch-making legislation that will set the course for our nation's economic policy for the future, why are the Republicans being so sloppy with it?

Sloppy drafting will give the tax jocks some material to work with.

The Democrats are in the minority in the Senate. Senator Schumer has no ability to derail this bill under the reconciliation rules. It is Schumer who is forcing the GOP to comply with reconciliation and the Byrd rule. I am not aware that Sanders has done anything here other than give meaningless speeches.

Again, the attack on Senator Schumer is simply misguided and false. See https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9998397 Please tell me what in the real world could Schumer do under Senate rules? What magic wand does he has that he is not using? I am lawyer and I know Senate rules and I am not aware of any steps that Senator Schumer could be taking to block this bill in the real world. If you know of such steps, you could join in MM's thread linked above and enlightened us.

The only way to change things is to turn out in 2018 and elect Democrats to the Senate and the House. Without control of either the Senate or the House, there is little that can be done here.

I'l check back later.

It's impossible that it's only 1.5 trillion now.

That is why the middle class tax cuts expire. I read somewhere that if the middle class tax cuts did not expire, the tax bill would cost more than $2 trillion. So, if the middle class tax cuts did not expire Republicans would not be able to pass the bill.