With eight Senators now publicly leery about using reconciliation to amend the health-care reform bill and induce the House to pass it, it's worth emphasizing that using reconciliation to pass legislation is acceptable. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has whipped up a little report on the issue. Here are some other pieces of legislation passed through reconciliation:
Welfare Reform. In 1996, a Republican Congress used the reconciliation process to enact sweeping welfare reform legislation making the most dramatic changes in the safety net in decades. Upon Senate passage, Pete V. Domenici (R-NM), chair of the Budget Committee, stated, “A system that has failed in every aspect will now be thrown away. We’ll start over with a new system."
2001 Tax Cuts. In 2001, another Republican Congress used the reconciliation process to enact the largest and most sweeping tax cuts in 20 years. That reconciliation bill, which featured dramatic reductions in both income and estate taxes, swelled the federal budget deficit by an estimated $1.35 trillion over the 2001-2011 period (and actually by much more than that, since hundreds of billions of dollars in costs were masked through sunsets and timing gimmicks). President George W. Bush, who had proposed the tax cuts during the 2000 campaign, called the signing of the bill an “historic moment” that “does not come often.”
2003 Tax Cuts. In 2003, despite the return of large deficits, Congress used the reconciliation process to enact still another round of massive tax cuts. Although the “official” cost of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act was held down through the extensive further use of budget gimmicks, its actual price tag approached $1 trillion over ten years.
Children's Health Insurance Program. Reconciliation legislation enacted in 1997 created the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which now provides subsidized coverage to 7 million children.
Medicare Advantage. The 1997 reconciliation law also established the Medicare+Choice program, now termed Medicare Advantage. The Medicare Advantage program currently serves 10.4 million Medicare beneficiaries.
Continuation of Employer-Sponsored Coverage. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985 established new rules under which workers leaving employment with a firm that offers health insurance can remain enrolled in the employer’s health plan for a specified period of time if the worker pays the premiums. COBRA also makes continuation of coverage available to spouses and children of workers upon the death of the worker, loss of dependent status, or other specified circumstances.
If all these laws could pass with reconciliation, why not health-care reform? This is the Democrats chance to prove that they're serious about their agenda and pass their bill.
-- Tim Fernholz
