Budget Reconciliation is Historically Used for Tough Votes

OpenCongress Blog

March 4, 2010 - by Donny Shaw

This should be fairly obvious. It’s a process designed to allow Congress to implement legislation that they have accounted for in their budget without being blocked by partisan tactics. But some Republicans, for example Orrin Hatch, have begun claiming that the process is actually used most often for bipartisan, broadly-supported bills.

New research from the Sunlight Foundation show that Hatch and the Republicans are wrong. Of the 13 reconciliation votes that Congress has taken since 1990 (which is as far back as you can get roll call data on the internet), 7 of them would not have passed under the normal procedure that allows for filibusters and a de facto 60-vote hurdle for passage.

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