The Way Forward: Reconciliation

Facing a Republican filibuster with only 59 Senate votes, one option for going forward with health care reform is the Senate's reconiliation process, which can be used for passing budget-related bills and requires only a simple majority (51 votes). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Wednesday “Reconciliation is one of the things that we need to look at with the change in circumstances.” According to The Hill, many House Blue Dog Democrats are uncomfortable with reconciliation, fearing that the public would view it as a trick. However, it has been used 19 times since the early 1980's to pass controversial budget policies, including President Bill Clinton’s fiscal 1994 deficit reduction and tax package and President George W. Bush’s major tax cuts. Here is a primer on the use of reconciliation from Kaiser Health News.