The Senate gets to use it once a year to not require 60 votes. It was last used it on July 4th to push through the cuts to Medicaid, which is why it can’t be used again now. January being a new year means Republicans can ignore Democrats again and continue to push their own agenda without bipartisan support.
From Wikipedia:
the Senate can pass one bill per year affecting each subject.
The procedure overrides the Senate’s filibuster rules, which may otherwise require a sixty-vote supermajority for passage. Bills described as reconciliation bills can pass the Senate by a simple majority of fifty-one votes or fifty votes plus the vice president’s as the tie-breaker.
Thanks, that helps a lot and definitely recontextualises the whole situation. I can still seem some advantage in forcing the GOP to burn their one CR in January, but that’s definitely a much smaller threat than I had previously assumed.
I don’t think there’s much calculation being done by anyone here, but I guess we’ll see. With 2026 being midterms, i doubt democrats will pressure another shutdown in the summer/fall and risk losing their seat.
Budget reconciliation : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_States_Congress)
The Senate gets to use it once a year to not require 60 votes. It was last used it on July 4th to push through the cuts to Medicaid, which is why it can’t be used again now. January being a new year means Republicans can ignore Democrats again and continue to push their own agenda without bipartisan support.
From Wikipedia:
Thanks, that helps a lot and definitely recontextualises the whole situation. I can still seem some advantage in forcing the GOP to burn their one CR in January, but that’s definitely a much smaller threat than I had previously assumed.
I don’t think there’s much calculation being done by anyone here, but I guess we’ll see. With 2026 being midterms, i doubt democrats will pressure another shutdown in the summer/fall and risk losing their seat.