2016 Postmortem

jmowreader

(50,557 posts) Tue Nov 11, 2014, 01:16 AM Nov 2014

Does anyone understand reconciliation well enough to teach us about it?

What exactly can the Republicans pass via the reconciliation mechanism? I was always led to believe it's only for budgetary issues, but the teabaggers are talking about using it to repeal Obamacare - and they aren't using the term "defund" here but rather "repeal."

If they can use reconciliation for anything they want as a simple way of bypassing the Democrats, there are two problems - one for them, one for us.

Our problem is this is going to be an extremely long two years - is there enough ballpoint pen ink in all the factories of the world to veto all the garbage they'll reconcile past Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? (Vetoing garbage bills is no job for the president's Mont Blanc. It deserves to be done with a ballpoint pen...one with the name of a gas station printed on it.)

Their problem is the need to explain why reconciliation is only bad when Democrats do it.

2 replies

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Highlight:

Does anyone understand reconciliation well enough to teach us about it? (Original Post) jmowreader Nov 2014 OP

Good summary here... pkdu Nov 2014 #1

From wiki ... 1StrongBlackMan Nov 2014 #2

pkdu

(3,977 posts)

1. Good summary here...

Reply to jmowreader (Original post)

Tue Nov 11, 2014, 01:33 AM

Nov 2014

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_States_Congress)

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)

2. From wiki ...

Reply to jmowreader (Original post)

Tue Nov 11, 2014, 11:27 AM

Nov 2014

Reconciliation is a legislative process of the United States Senate intended to allow consideration of a budget bill with debate limited to twenty hours under Senate rules.[1] Reconciliation also exists in the United States House of Representatives, but because the House regularly passes rules that constrain debate and amendment, the process has had a less significant impact on that body.

A reconciliation instruction is a provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to submit legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, revenues, or the debt ceiling into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted.[2]

A reconciliation bill is a bill containing changes in law recommended pursuant to reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution. If the instructions pertain to only one committee in a chamber, that committee reports the reconciliation bill. If the instructions pertain to more than one committee, the House Budget Committee reports an omnibus reconciliation bill, but it may not make substantive changes in the recommendations of the other committees.[3]

The highlighted segment is what I think you are hearing. But as usual, the teaparty folks continue in their Government for Dummies version of government, where they say things that sound smart but don't understand. Congressional rules bar "Defunding", let alone "Repealing" an existing law, through reconciliation.

Here is another good (and short) read on the entire budget process.

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