Schumer eyes bypassing filibuster for third bill
By Jordain Carney - 03/29/21 08:30 AM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is looking at whether he could pass a third bill this year through reconciliation, an arcane budget process that lets Democrats avoid the legislative filibuster.
Schumer’s staff recently argued to the parliamentarian that they could use Section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act, which greenlights the use of reconciliation, to tee up passing at least a third bill this year by a simple majority, an aide for the New York Democrat confirmed.
"Schumer wants to maximize his options to allow Senate Democrats multiple pathways to advance President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda if Senate Republicans try to obstruct or water down a bipartisan agreement," the Schumer aide added.
Typically, Congress can only pass one bill under reconciliation per fiscal year. Democrats have already used the 2021 budget to set up and pass their $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan. They are likely to use the fiscal 2022 budget to pass the Build Back Better plan, which addresses infrastructure, jobs and climate change.
But Schumer’s staff is arguing that they could use Section 304 to squeeze out another bill under the fiscal 2021 budget, pointing to language that states “the two Houses may adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which revises or reaffirms the concurrent resolution on the budget for such fiscal year most recently agreed to.â€
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/545331-schumer-eyes-bypassing-filibuster-for-third-bill