WALLNER: Democrats Are Avoiding Open Debate With Their Budget Reconciliation Scheme

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The Democratic Party won control of Congress and the presidency in last year’s elections. And its supporters expect President Joe Biden and House and Senate Democrats to take advantage of unified Democratic control of government to advance long-standing policy priorities like tackling climate change and investing in the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure. But the Democratic agenda has stalled on Capitol Hill.

Democrats blame Senate Republicans for blocking their agenda. This is because senators can delay up-or-down votes on legislation by filibustering it. Democrats control the evenly divided Senate thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote. That means that they are well short of the three-fifths majority needed to invoke cloture (i.e., end a filibuster) under the Senate’s rules. The Democrats’ effort to pass a second reconciliation bill this year also suggests that they do not have the votes needed to eliminate the filibuster.


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