The SAVE America Act is stuck in the Senate because Republicans lack the votes to end debate by invoking cloture and have so far declined to force Democrats to mount a talking filibuster. The impasse has prompted some supporters to call for circumventing the Democrats’ threatened filibuster by including it in a reconciliation bill instead. While senators can’t filibuster reconciliation bills, procedural constraints on what they can include make it even harder to advance the election overhaul bill that way.
Reconciliation is a special process that protects budget-related legislation from Senate filibusters. Congress created the reconciliation process in 1974 to make it easier for the House and Senate – especially the Senate – to align (or reconcile) the revenue, spending, and deficit levels derived from existing law with the levels Congress sets in its annual budget resolution. Unlike regular legislation, senators can’t filibuster reconciliation bills or the motion to proceed to them because budget rules limit floor debate on such measures to twenty hours.
Passing the SAVE America Act through reconciliation requires at least two steps. First, the House and Senate must adopt a budget resolution setting overall spending, revenue, and deficit levels for the years it covers (at least five, usually ten). To make a reconciliation bill possible, the budget resolution must also include reconciliation instructions directing one or more committees to report legislation that changes spending, revenue, or deficit levels by specified amounts in specified years. Because the Rules and Administration Committee has jurisdiction over the Senate election overhaul bill, it must receive instructions in the budget resolution.
