Parliamentarian Gives Senators Guidance on Use of Reconciliation to Lift Debt Limit Amid Partisan Standoff

What’s the story?

• The Senate parliamentarian’s office provided senators with guidance last week about raising the debt limit through the budget reconciliation process ahead of October 18th, when the Treasury Dept. estimates it will be unable to fund all the federal government’s obligations, as Democrats and Republicans in Congress continue their debt limit standoff.
• The parliamentarian’s office confirmed that Democrats can amend their budget resolution to produce a new reconciliation bill that increases the debt limit and pass it along party-lines, according to a report by Punchbowl News. 
• The guidance also verified that the budget revision process and introduction of a debt limit reconciliation bill would not impact the privileged status of the “social infrastructure” spending reconciliation bill that Democrats are negotiating. That’s not an issue in the near term, as moderate and progressive Democrats haven’t reached a deal on its contents.
• For the moment, Democrats are continuing to try to avoid using reconciliation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) set up a procedural vote for later this week on a bill suspending the debt limit through mid-December 2022 that was passed by House Democrats on party-lines. That vote is expected to fall short of the 60 votes required to overcome the legislative filibuster due to Republican opposition. 
• The Senate appears on course for a replay of late September when Senate Republicans blocked a stopgap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown because it contained the debt limit suspension, which was ultimately removed prior to passage. If those events play out as expected, Democrats may be reluctantly forced to turn to reconciliation for raising the debt limit.

Why do Democrats want to avoid reconciliation for the debt limit?

Specific Debt Limit Increase vs. Suspension Thru 12/22:

• One area the Senate parliamentarian’s guidance didn’t address is whether reconciliation can only be used to raise the debt limit to a specific dollar amount, or whether it can be used to suspend the debt limit until a specified date as House Democrats’ debt limit bill would do through December 16, 2022. 
• By choosing that date, Democrats would be able to delay dealing with the debt limit again until after the 2022 midterm elections regardless of how much debt is accumulated in the next 14 months before addressing it during a lame-duck session. That would allow Democrats to pursue larger spending packages over the next year without having to worry about triggering another debt limit increase if Congress sets a specific debt limit threshold that gets outpaced by Democrats’ agenda.
• Senators may seek additional guidance from the parliamentarian’s office on the matter before a final decision about the use of reconciliation is made.

Double Shot of Vote-a-Rama:

• Senate vote-a-ramas allow senators to force votes on any germane amendment they want in a marathon session. The most recent vote-a-rama was on Democrats’ budget resolution to use reconciliation for their social spending plan ― it featured 43 roll call votes and lasted 14 hours before ending at 3:58am.
• Two vote-a-ramas would have to occur: First, when Democrats revise their budget resolution to allow the debt limit to be raised via reconciliation; and a second time when the reconciliation bill itself reaches the floor.
• Because of the Senate’s germaneness rules, all amendments offered in either of the two potential debt limit vote-a-ramas would have to be directly related to the national debt. That means the breadth of subject matter addressed in amendments would be more focused than in this year’s previous vote-a-ramas, potentially speeding up the process.

Floor Time Constraints:

• Democrats have expressed concern that using reconciliation could consume a significant amount of floor time, due in large part to the vote-a-ramas and other procedural requirements related to debate reconciliation measures.
• The process could last up to two weeks, although it’s possible that Republican lawmakers would consent to waive debate time to allow the vote-a-ramas and final passage of both the revised budget resolution and an ensuing debt limit reconciliation bill.

What’s next for the debt limit in Congress?

• The Senate’s procedural vote on House Democrats’ debt limit suspension bill is likely to occur Wednesday, but if it fails as expected lawmakers will still have to find a way to increase the debt limit.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) didn’t discuss reconciliation as an option while giving remarks on the floor and accused Republicans of obstructing a debt limit hike while setting up the procedural vote on the debt limit suspension bill:

“If Republicans want to vote to stop payments from going to social security recipients or veterans, then be my guest. But they ought to get out of the way and let the legislation pass the Senate. The fact is we do not have the luxury of waiting until October 18 to extend the debt ceiling. Even a near-miss can have dramatic consequences — every single day we delay taking action, we increase the chances of doing irreversible damage to our global financial system, our economic recovery, and trust in our country’s ability to pay its debts.”

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke after Schumer and quoted floor remarks by then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) in opposition to a debt limit hike by a unified Republican government in 2006. McConnell added that Republicans remain opposed to raising the debt limit for Democrats while they’re pursuing their partisan spending plan so they ought to use reconciliation:

“The majority doesn’t need our votes. They just want a bipartisan shortcut around procedural hurdles they can clear on their own. And they want that bipartisan shortcut so they can pivot right back to partisan spending as fast as possible. They want a bipartisan shortcut to get right back to more partisan hardball!... The majority needs to stop sleepwalking toward yet another preventable crisis. Democrats need to tackle the debt limit. We gave them a road map and three months’ notice. I suggest our colleagues get moving.”

• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told CNN that he is supportive of Democrats raising the debt limit through reconciliation and said that shouldn’t be ruled out as an option for raising the debt limit to avoid default:

“We can prevent default, we really can prevent it. And there’s a way to do that, and there’s a couple other tools that we have that we can use. Takes a little bit of time. It’s going to be a little bit of pain, long vote-a-ramas, this and that ― do what you have to do. But we cannot ― and I want people to know ― we will not let this country default.”

• The House is on recess but lawmakers may be recalled with 72 hours of notice for votes if legislation related to the debt limit is added to the schedule.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Schumer: Senate Democrats via Flickr / Creative Commons | McConnell: Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons)