Chuck Schumer scores major win that will allow Democrats to bypass GOP obstruction

[catbyte]

Bob Brigham
April 05, 2021

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Monday announced the Senate Parliamentarian had issued a ruling that will allow Democrats to sidestep the filibuster again in 2020.

Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan without any GOP support by using a process known as reconciliation. Under the process, the filibuster is not applicable.

However, there are significant limits as to what can be included in the bill, as was on display earlier this year when the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour could occur under reconciliation.

Schumer had asked the Parliamentarian to rule whether it was applicable to "amend" a budget via additional reconciliation legislation. The Parliamentarian ruled that could occur, opening the door for Democrats to pass Biden's American Jobs Plan, his infrastructure bill, without the GOP able to block it via the filibuster.

Link to tweet

Infrastructure news: Chuck Schumer’s office says the parliamentarian agrees with his interpretation of the Senate budget process, which could enable Democrats to bypass a filibuster and use reconciliation once more in fiscal year 2021 (and several more times next year).

https://www.rawstory.com/chuck-schumer-reconciliation/

[NightWatcher]

1. Cannot wait to see Madam Vice President on her regular stroll into the Capitol to cast #51

We're about to get some serious shit done.

[Hotler]

29. And in fishnets......

[bamagal62]

2. Yes!!! Woohoo!

[Cha]

3. Wow.. Awesome! guess

who's pissed? lol

Rt TY!

[MyOwnPeace]

5. Oh, oh!!!! Ask me, ask me!!!!!!!

[Cha]

13. You win! & you can't make

him talk to President Biden.. lol

[jmbar2]

23. wonderful!

The blue nails are a nice touch.

[MyOwnPeace]

33. Gotta' be a Dem!

[gratuitous]

4. There you go, Republicans

You can sit there, arms folded and scowling, and all manner of wildly popular legislation will pass without so much as a "by your leave." Or you can get involved in the process and try to score some points for the folks back home in the final bill.

[sheshe2]

6. Wait. What?

I read hear that Schumer and the Democrats are spinless and the Parliamentarian sucks.

Go Senator Schumer!! Dems are rocking it.

Thank you, catbyte!

[SayItLoud]

7. Be nice if it could pass without reconciliation then use recon for protecting voting rights.

I'm worried already about 2022 and dozens of local and state elections.

[mucifer]

8. we get two bills from this ruling

[dsc]

18. there is no way we can pass that using reconciliation

doesn't matter how many other such bills we pass. The problem is that the voting bill is divorced from the budget process.

[lagomorph777]

42. Sadly, true. Will require busting the Filibuster. And duct-taping Manchin.

[hedda_foil]

35. Listen closely please. Reconciliation is shorthand for BUDGET reconciliation.

In other words, it only applies to spending and taxing ... things that affect the budget.

[TimeToGo]

9. Year

“Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Monday announced the Senate Parliamentarian had issued a ruling that will allow Democrats to sidestep the filibuster again in 2020.”

2020?

[CrackityJones75]

15. Yeah I don't understand either.

This seems like old news?

[WheelWalker]

19. I believe we're working on fy 2020 because there was no budget passed

in 2020. I could be wrong. Then we move to current year for which no budget was passed, as well. I'm thinking.

[CrackityJones75]

22. Hmmm ok it must be something like that.

Thanks!

[TimeToGo]

34. Ok thanks but

Isn’t this fiscal year 21? Starting 10/1/20?

[tblue37]

10. If Manchin and Sinema don't block it.

[Captain Zero]

12. Someone needs to stroll over by Sinemas office

and say high speed rail between Phoenix and LA sure would be nice.

[Hortensis]

16. They chose to be Democrats in spite of living in red states. Manchin

is the ONLY Democrat elected to DC; all others are Republican.

In any case, this is a huge bill with many parts. Our Democratic senators are not about to block "it." The insidious focus on these two senators hides the reality, though, that out of 50 Democratic senators some may not support all provisions in their introduced form, BUT they will pass most of the bill as they did the Rescue Plan.

Btw, remember, that 8 (eight!), not 1 or 2, Democratic senators voted against increasing the minimum wage all the way to $15 as part of the Rescue package, though they would have supported a lesser increase and will support one in future.

Big no to leaving Republican senators alone to demonize Democratic senators representing mostly red states. This is not innocent.

[LenaBaby61]

20. "If Manchin and Sinema don't block it."

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. If they block anything, it will be on a floor vote for amendments

In broad daylight, not hiding behind senate procedure.

[hedda_foil]

36. Please see post 35.

[Fiendish Thingy]

43. Not sure of your point- the ruling allows for amending the budget resolutions w/reconciliation

That’s where the “extra” reconciliation opportunities come from, using reconciliation to amend the 2 remaining budget resolutions for FY 21 and 22.

Manchin has said he opposes using reconciliation for infrastructure, however, if Schumer tries to pass infrastructure legislation by including it as amendments to an already-passed-via-reconciliation budget resolution, Manchin can’t block it by a procedural vote on reconciliation itself, he must go on record opposing the amendments via a floor vote.

That was MY point.

[hedda_foil]

45. Sorry, I responded to your post by accident. You're absolutely right about Manchin.

[budkin]

11. It's too bad Manchin opposes it

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/politics/manchin-infrastructure-bill-tax-hikes/index.html

[UTUSN]

14. I was going to say... now to find a way to sidestep MANCHIN...

Last edited Tue Apr 6, 2021, 09:17 PM - Edit history (1)

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[Fiendish Thingy]

27. Let's see what he does once each amendment comes up to a floor vote. Nt

[ColinC]

17. Really wish this effort was put more into a new VRA instead.

But still good, I suppose

[hedda_foil]

37. Please see post 35.

[monkeyman1]

21. moscow mitch is going to need a catheter & depend's !

[ailsagirl]

24. FANTASTIC!!!

[Fiendish Thingy]

25. That's a wonderful, massive FU to Prime Minister Manchin!

Manchin can’t obstruct using reconciliation to pass the infrastructure bill, and now he has to take a stand on each and every floor vote for infrastructure amendments to include in the old bill.

[Fiendish Thingy]

28. So they can pass infrastructure legislation by amending the 2021 budget, so does that mean...

If they amend the 2021 budget, then, in addition to passing each amendment, they have to vote to pass the whole Budget package again?

It’s a bit of brinkmanship, but if so, I’d like to see Manchin and Sinema try and vote that down...

[BobTheSubgenius]

30. Part of me feels kinda bad for the Rs.

This Parliamentarian ruling, or opinion, effectively empties their toolkit. When stamping their little feet and holding their breath until their face turns blue (I know....that's never happened, but I'm hoping they stick with it) is taken away from them, what are they to do?

[NJCher]

31. Rachel covering this now

at 9:20 eastern time.

"It's $200 in the lint trap!"

[Generic Brad]

32. Would DC Statehood have budget impact?

That is the first thing that came to my mind.

[hedda_foil]

38. No.

[AZProgressive]

39. Not likely

I don't know all the rules but I do know why the $15 minimum wage was removed.

Slate

MacDonough’s decision was short and to the point, according to a Senate source. In her view, the budgetary impact of a minimum wage increase was “merely incidental” to its nonbudgetary impact. That would make it a violation of the Byrd Rule, the statute with guardrails on what is and isn’t allowed under reconciliation.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/senate-parliamentarian-blocks-15-minimum-wage.html

Basically it has to be a budget bill, it cannot be "incidental" to raising or lowering the federal budget and can only be done once a year though I think Democrats do get two reconciliations in one year to make up for a year the reconcilliation wasn't used.

[Blue Owl]

40. Suck it Mitch

[lagomorph777]

41. Thrilled to be Rec #100

[SCantiGOP]

44. I just don't understand how

A fairly obscure bureaucrat seems to have more power than the Congress, President or Supreme Court.
We really need some structural changes, starting with the idiotic filibuster, to
makemout government workable.

[Martin68]

46. Yes!!!

[Texin]

47. I wish I were as optimistic about this as many are. The "Dem" holdouts -

you know, the usual suspects - Manchin and Sinema are in the way. And Sinema basically (in an interview with the WSJ) said, "...yeah, the Senate's broken. But let's not fix it."

I can sort of get it about Manchin. But Sinema. I can't figure her out. She probably should have just run as a rethug and be done with it. She's certainly not fooling me any longer.