Typically, the budget resolution in any fiscal year serves one primary purpose: setting the total discretionary spending budget that the House and Senate agree upon for that year. But it can be used also be used unlock a powerful tool – Budget Reconciliation. Budget reconciliation offers an opportunity for passage of budget and tax priorities with a simple majority or 51-vote threshold in the Senate.
Most other legislation needs 60 votes to move to a vote on final passage. Because it’s a powerful tool, provisions included in reconciliation must substantively involve spending, revenue, or the debt limit. In other words – no policy. It also only works when one party controls the House, Senate, and White House. Hence, the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 and the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act.
