From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms
Reconciliation
photo credit: Ben SutherlandReconciliation: Process by which Congress changes existing laws to conform revenue and spending levels to the limits set in a budget resolution. Limited to twenty hours of debate in the Senate.
Reconciliation Instruction: A provision within a Budget Resolution directing committees to report legislation changing existing law. Such instructions are a precondition to the consideration of a reconciliation bill.
Amendment Would Require Reconciliation Instruction For Health Care Savings
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 provides for a “reconciliation” procedure for bringing existing tax and spending laws into conformity with ceilings enacted in the congressional budget resolutions. Under the procedure, Congress instructs designated legislative committees to approve measures adjusting revenues and expenditures by a certain amount. The committees have a deadline by which they must report the legislation, but they have the discretion of deciding what changes are to be made. The recommendations of the various committees are consolidated without change by the budget committees into an omnibus reconciliation bill, which the must be considered and approved by both houses of Congress. The orders to congressional committees to report recommendations for reconciliation bills are called reconciliation instructions, and they are contained in the budget resolution.
Budget Reconciliation Recommendations to Repeal and Replace Obamacare
Also see
- Filibuster / Unlimited Debate (CongressionalGlossary.com)
- Byrd Rule (CongressionalGlossary.com)
- Ch. 5.I. The Nuclear Option; Chapter 7.B. 1974 Budget Act; Chapter 7.C. The Congressional Budget Resolution; Chapter 7.D. Reconciliation Bills; Chapter 7.E. The “Byrd Rule”; Chapter 9. Conclusion; in Congressional Procedure
More
- How the Congressional Reconciliation Process Works, NCSL
- Budget Reconciliation, Heritage
- “The Budget Reconciliation Process: Stages of Consideration,” CRS Report R44058 (16-page PDF
) - “Budget Reconciliation Measures Enacted Into Law Since 1980,” CRS Report R40480 (18-page PDF)
- “The Budget Reconciliation Process: The Senate’s ‘Byrd Rule’,” CRS Report RL30862 (45-page PDF)
- “The Budget Reconciliation Process: Timing of Legislative Action,” CRS Report RL30458 (19-page PDF)
- “Budget Reconciliation Process: Timing of Committee Responses to Reconciliation Directives,” CRS Report R41151 (40-page PDF)
- “The Decline of Lawmaking Reflects a Diminished Congress,” by William Yeatman, CATO, May 10, 2021
Courses
- Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
- Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
- Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing
- Custom Training
- Congressional Operations Poster, with Federal Budget Process Flowchart
- Federal Budgeting, a Five-Course series on CD
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Publications
The Federal Budget Process 2E |
Pocket Constitution |
Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates |
Congressional Procedure |
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