This is very good news. Many have feared that, with the Paul Ryan plan to end Medicare getting so much attention, Congress would downshift to a safety valve, the Paul Ryan plan to cripple Medicaid, as part of a deficit reduction deal. Under the Ryan plan, Medicaid would be turned into a block grant, which [...]

Ten years ago today, the The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 passed Congress. Yes, it was a bill considered under reconciliation! While the Bush Administration was frustrated in enacting some of its domestic policy, they used whatever means necessary – including using reconciliation, a process designed expressly to make it easier [...]

In theory, the win for Kathy Hochul in NY-26 should give Democrats tremendous leverage in the budget fight. Republicans have to be searching for an exit strategy, with their Medicare phase-out plan this unpopular and this resonant in elections. They alienated the biggest demographic portion of their base for no real reason, and politically this [...]

Bipartisan talks on increasing the nation’s debt limit, which have morphed into a wider discussion about deficit reduction, resume today. Republicans in recent weeks have said that they will only raise the debt limit by a dollar amount equal to the amount of long-term savings. Therefore, a $2 trillion increase in the debt limit – [...]

Kent Conrad has decided to shelve his budget while high-level talks continue on a long-term deficit reduction solution tied to the debt limit. Conrad’s plan got mixed reviews initially from within the caucus, but he altered it to capture the votes of Democrats on the Budget Committee, including Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The latest reports claimed [...]

In 2001 and 2003, George W. Bush and the Republicans had to use budget reconciliation to increase the deficit, to implement the Bush tax cuts. The 2003 version passed in the Senate by 50-50, with Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote. Democrats were so horrified by this that they passed a rule that budget reconciliation [...]

I’m trying to decompress from the Senate Banking Committee hearing on foreclosure fraud, so before I go, let’s look at the latest on the Bush tax cuts. Today, Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO floated that Democrats could hold a vote just on extending the tax cuts for the middle class. AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka told [...]

If you want to know how Democrats could force a vote on the Bush tax cuts on their terms, David Waldman has figured it out. Yes, it’s complicated; yes, it involves budget reconciliation; yes, it involves extending all the tax cuts and then coming back to repeal those on the high-end earners; yes, it has [...]

Regardless of the debate over secret money, one thing remains clear – the majority party is suffering because of a 9.6% unemployment rate, as any majority party would suffer from under similar circumstances. And the Obama Administration took a brief respite led mainly by inventory restocking to believe that a broad-based recovery was underway, and [...]

About a half-hour ago, the Senate Rules Committee opened their first hearing into the filibuster in as long as anyone can remember. The hearing is being broadcast live at the Rules Committee website. Sarah Binder, the political science professor and Senate rules expert from George Washington University; Gregory Wawro, a political science professor from Columbia [...]

Jon Walker had a post earlier today noting published reports that the Democrats would not pursue reconciliation instructions in their budget resolution, making it impossible to pass any legislation with a 50-vote threshold. This would represent a surrender of a key tool to make progress without relying on Republicans who are hell-bent on obstruction. Somewhere [...]