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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Dec 30, 2009 06:51pm |
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| Category | Blog Entry |
| News Date | Thursday, December 31, 2009 12:50:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Ezra Klein | December 30, 2009; 6:30 PM ET
The arcane rules and regulations governing the 51-vote budget reconciliation process made it a tricky path for health-care reform. But they make it perfect for stimulus. After all, what's dearer to the budget than spending money and changing tax rates?
There are three ways to use the budget reconciliation process for further stimulus. The first is to include a reconciliation "directive" in the next budget. The second is to use the directive that was included in the 2010 budget for health care. And the third is to pass a new directive into the 2010 budget. Because I don't want your eyes to glaze over before you reach the conclusion, I'll put it up at the top: If Democrats want to do this, they can. They can do it on their timetable, and they only need 51 votes.
Using the 2011 budget: The first path, and the most straightforward, would be to include a "budget reconciliation directive" in the 2011 budget. The problem with that path is that it's slow: The next budget is the 2011 budget. It doesn't come up for consideration until April. The stimulus package couldn't really be considered until June or so, and it couldn't take effect until the new year.
The upside is that it preserves Democratic flexibility into 2011. There's a good chance that Democrats will lose seats in the 2010 election, and there's a good chance the economy will need more stimulus in 2011. Democrats would be smart to give themselves the option to pass a stimulus bill with less than 60 votes, even if they don't end up using it. "It ought to be a no-brainer," says Bob Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. |
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