作为总统乔·拜登试图超过他的1.9万亿美元新冠肺炎救助计划在共和党的支持下，参议院民主党人正在努力继续前进共和党使用了一种被称为和解的晦涩但强大的程序性工具。

参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默和众议院议长南希·佩洛西周一宣布，他们已经提交了一份联合预算决议潜在地第一步颁布预算调节法案。

舒默周一在发言中表示:“当这么多美国人遭受痛苦时，精打细算是没有意义的。”。“做得太少的风险远大于做得太多的风险。”

和解是值得注意的，因为它允许任何在其严格参数内制定的立法在参议院以51票的简单多数通过，而不是60票，这是克服阻挠议事所必需的。但这是一个复杂的过程，受制于一套严格的规则。

和解是由1974年的《国会预算法》建立的，以快速跟踪国会在预算的三个领域修改法律的能力:收入或税收、直接支出(如医疗保险和医疗补助)和债务限额。

自1980年以来，21项预算调节措施已颁布成为法律，根据国会研究服务局。最近，共和党人在2017年通过2018年财政预算时使用了该法案来改革税法，包括永久废除与《平价医疗法案》的个人授权相关的罚款，并允许在北极国家野生动物保护区开采石油和天然气。拜登作为总统的第一个行动是暂时停止这项活动。

随着拜登政府努力推进其新冠肺炎救助计划，舒默似乎为共和党人制定了一个时间表，以便在民主党人推进和解之前加入进来。

“我们希望他们本周加入我们。如果他们不这样做，我们就靠自己前进，”舒默周六在MSNBC的“政治国家”节目中说

舒默的言论呼应了拜登前一天的言论。当记者问他星期五离开白宫时，他是否支持通过冠状病毒通过和解来缓解，总统说，“如果我们能得到的话，我支持在共和党的支持下通过COVID缓解。但是COVID救济必须通过。没有如果、和或但是。”

在目前以50比50分裂的参议院，和解可能使民主党在没有一个共和党人赞成的情况下通过立法，副总统卡马拉·哈里斯可以投出打破僵局的一票。这假设这次所有50名民主党人都参加了，但弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)已经表示了两党合作的重要性，因此领导层正在密切关注他。当哈里斯最近未经宣布前往他的州推动政府的全面流行病救济措施时，这位温和的民主党人并不太高兴。

“我看到了(采访)。我简直不敢相信。没人给我打电话。我们将努力寻找一条两党合作的前进道路。我认为我们需要，”曼钦告诉WSAZ。

如果国会民主党人呼吁和解，这里手术会是什么样子，从“拉玛投票”到“伯德规则”

第一步:预算委员会起草预算决议

众议院和参议院预算委员会各自起草一份预算决议，概述大多数人打算在下一个财政年度实施的政策。这一次是相同的措施。

预算委员会必须包括所谓的”对账说明“在他们各自的决议里面。这些指令要求特定的委员会在某个日期前制定对账立法，并在与当前政策相关的直接支出、收入和/或赤字中实现特定金额的预算变更。

以拜登的新冠肺炎救助计划为例，民主党可以利用和解来获得1400美元的刺激支票、400美元的失业保险、1700亿美元的学校复课援助以及每小时15美元的最低工资等措施。

根据《国会预算法案》，不超过三项措施有资格在参议院获得快速对账程序——直接支出、收入和债务限额各一项。

这一步的关键人物将是参议院预算委员会主席伯尼·桑德斯。和众议院预算委员会主席约翰·亚尔穆特。

在…上美国广播公司的“本周”桑德斯告诉联合主播玛莎·拉德达茨，“我们都期待着与共和党人合作。但现在，这个国家面临着一系列前所未有的危机。”

桑德斯周日补充道:“我们必须采取行动，现在就必须采取行动。”。

第二步:委员会开始制定对账指令

委员会开始执行他们的对账指令。没有人需要遵守预算委员会的政策建议。他们有很大的自由裁量权。

如果和解指令是发给多个委员会的，那么这些委员会就把它们的法案发回预算委员会，由预算委员会将所有的东西汇编成一个综合立法。

步骤3:楼层考虑

一旦预算委员会报告了一项和解措施，该措施就可以提交全体议院审议。舒默也有可能绕过委员会程序，直接在会议上提出该法案。

参议院没有阻挠和解法案。辩论以20小时为限，对任何一项具体修正案的辩论以两小时为限。不过，一旦辩论时间结束，参议员们仍然可以在“拉玛投票”期间提出修正案，这包括一个10分钟投票时间的简短辩论。从技术上讲，这些规则允许无休止的修改，但在实践中，通常有一个限制。助手们表示，这一次可能会有几十人投票。

修正案必须与手头的事情相关——在这种情况下，冠状病毒的缓解——根据所谓的“伯德规则”

在审议和解法案时，任何参议员都可以针对被认为无关的措施提出程序问题。如果会议主持者支持程序问题，那么违规条款或修正案将被取消，除非其支持者能够获得参议院五分之三(60)的多数票来放弃该规则。

在众议院，辩论的持续时间历来是一至三个小时。根据国会研究局的说法，修正案的数量一直受到严格限制。

每个议院通过的议案必须是相同的，任何分歧必须在继续下一步之前得到解决。

第四步:总统行动

该法案随后被提交给总统，总统可以签署或否决该法案。如果参众两院都以三分之二的绝对多数投票，国会可以推翻否决。

自1980年首次使用以来，和解立法仅被否决过四次——前总统比尔·克林顿三次，前总统巴拉克·奥巴马一次。这些否决没有被推翻。

 

 

Budget reconciliation: How COVID relief could pass without GOP support

As President Joe Biden attempts to pass his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal with Republican support, Senate Democrats are working to move ahead without the GOP using an obscure, but powerful, procedural tool known as reconciliation.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday that they have filed a joint budget resolution -- the first step to potentially enacting a budget reconciliation bill.

"It makes no sense to pinch pennies when so many Americans are suffering," Schumer said in floor remarks Monday. "The risk of doing too little is far greater than the risk of doing too much."

Reconciliation is notable because it allows any legislation crafted within its strict parameters to pass in the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes, as opposed to 60, which is needed to overcome a filibuster. But it is a complicated process beholden to a strict set of rules.

Reconciliation was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to fast-track Congress' ability to change laws in three areas of the budget: revenue or taxes, direct spending -- such as Medicare and Medicaid -- and debt limits.

Since 1980, 21 budget reconciliation measures have been enacted into law, according to the Congressional Research Service. Most recently, it was used by Republicans in 2017 while passing the 2018 fiscal budget to overhaul the tax code -- including permanently repealing penalties associated with the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate -- and allow oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. One of Biden's first actions as president was to place a temporary moratorium on that activity.

As the Biden administration works to move its COVID-19 rescue plan, Schumer appeared to lay out a timetable for Republicans to get on board before Democrats move ahead with reconciliation.

"We hope they join us this week. If they don't, we're moving forward on our own," Schumer said Saturday on MSNBC's "Politics Nation."

Schumer's remarks echo ones Biden made the day before. When asked by reporters as he left the White House Friday if he supported passing coronavirus relief through reconciliation, the president said, "I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it. But COVID relief has to pass. There's no ifs, ands or buts."

In a Senate now split 50-50, reconciliation could allow Democrats to pass legislation without a single Republican in favor, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast a tie-breaking vote. That presumes all 50 Democrats are on board this time, but Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has expressed the importance of acting in a bipartisan way, so leadership is keeping an eye on him. The moderate Democrat was none too pleased when Harris recently traveled -- unannounced -- to his state to push the administration's sweeping pandemic relief measure.

"I saw (the interview). I couldn't believe it. No one called me. We're going to try to find a bipartisan pathway forward. I think we need to," Manchin told WSAZ.

Should Congressional Democrats invoke reconciliation, here's what the procedure would look like, from "vote-a-rama" to the "Byrd rule."

Step 1: Budget committees draft budget resolutions

House and Senate budget committees each write a budget resolution outlining the policies that the majority intends to implement in the coming fiscal year. These are identical measures this time around.

The budget committees must include what are known as "reconciliation instructions" inside their respective resolutions. These instructions tell specific committees to write reconciliation legislation by a certain date and to achieve a specific dollar amount of budgetary change in direct spending, revenue and/or deficit related to the policy at hand.

In the case of Biden's COVID-19 relief package, Democrats could use reconciliation for $1,400 stimulus checks, a $400 unemployment insurance boost, $170 billion to aid the reopening of schools and a $15 per hour minimum wage, among other measures.

Per the Congressional Budget Act, no more than three measures can qualify for expedited reconciliation procedures in the Senate -- one each for direct spending, revenue and the debt limit.

Key players in this step would be Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky.

On ABC's "This Week," Sanders told Co-anchor Martha Raddatz, "We all look forward to working with Republicans. But right now, this country faces an unprecedented set of crises."

"We have got to act and we have to act now," Sanders added on Sunday.

Step 2: Committees get to work on reconciliation instructions

Committees begin work on their reconciliation instructions. None are required to adhere to the policy recommendations from the budget committees. They are given wide discretion.

If the reconciliation instructions are to more than one committee, then the committees send their bills back to the budget committee, where that panel compiles everything into one omnibus piece of legislation.

Step 3: Floor consideration

Once a reconciliation measure has been reported out of the Budget Committee it is ready for consideration by the full chamber. It is also possible that Schumer calls up the bill directly on the floor, bypassing the committee process.

There is no filibustering of a reconciliation bill in the Senate. Debate is limited to 20 hours, with debate on any one specific amendment limited to two hours. Though, once the debate time expires, senators can still offer amendments during a period known as "vote-a-rama" -- which includes a short debate with 10-minute voting blocks. Technically, the rules allow for endless amendments, but in practice, there is usually a limit. Aides are indicating that perhaps a couple dozen could be voted on this time around.

Amendments must be relevant to the matter at hand -- in this case, coronavirus relief -- under what's known as the "Byrd rule."

Any senator may raise a point of order during consideration of a reconciliation bill against measures that are considered extraneous. If the point of order is sustained by the presiding officer, then the offending provision or amendment is stricken unless its proponent can muster a three-fifths (60) Senate majority vote to waive the rule.

In the House, the duration of debate has historically been one to three hours. The number of amendments has always been strictly limited, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The bills that pass out of each chamber must be identical and any differences must be resolved before moving on.

Step 4: Presidential action

The bill is then sent to the president, who can sign or veto it. Congress can override the veto if both chambers vote by a two-thirds supermajority.

Since its first use in 1980, reconciliation legislation has been vetoed just four times -- three times by former President Bill Clinton and once by former President Barack Obama. Those vetoes were not overridden.

ABC News' Molly Nagle and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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