Senate Parliamentarian Rejects Democrats' Latest Plan to Add Immigration Reform to Reconciliation Spending Bill

What’s the story?

• Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Thursday ruled against Democrats’ third plan to use the budget reconciliation process to pass immigration reforms. The latest proposal would have provided millions of unauthorized immigrants with temporary protection from deportation along with work permits.
• The text of Democrats’ reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, has been in flux since the House passed a version of the bill that was a non-starter in the Senate. Democratic senators have been negotiating changes amongst themselves and have now consulted the parliamentarian on three immigration reform proposals, each of which were ruled to violate the Senate rules for reconciliation bills, which can pass with a simple majority vote without being subject to the 60 vote threshold for most legislation.
• Bills considered under the budget reconciliation process must comply with the so-called “Byrd rule” which prohibits the inclusion of policies that aren’t directly related to fiscal policies. For example, provisions that don’t change spending or tax revenues or have spending and revenue changes that are only incidental to non-budgetary parts of a provision may be deemed extraneous. 
• Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL), whose committee has jurisdiction over immigration policies, told reporters that he is “disappointed” and that the bill was rejected on the “same reasoning” as the other immigration reform proposals. Durbin added that Democrats are “considering what options remain” but when asked whether there is another proposal ready to be submitted he replied, “Not at this point.”  

What’s next?

• The Senate’s Democratic majority could in theory vote to overrule the parliamentarian’s ruling if all 50 senators agreed along with Vice President Kamala Harris, but they lack the votes to do so.
• Moderate Democratic including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) view a vote to overrule the parliamentarian and create a new precedent as being akin to eliminating the legislative filibuster which requires 60 votes to limit debate on non-reconciliation bills. 
• They argue that eliminating the legislative filibuster through a new precedent would result in each party taking turns using the process to broaden the reconciliation carve out for non-budgetary items to be enacted along party-lines with simple majorities in the Senate, causing the pendulum of public policy to swing more wildly.
• Democrats may devise another immigration reform proposal that they can submit to the parliamentarian for further review before they bring their reconciliation bill to the floor, but it’s unclear at this time whether they will do so or what the new policy would include.

RELATED READING

• Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against Democrats’ Plan to Include Immigration Reform in Reconciliation Spending Bill (9/21/21)
• What is Budget Reconciliation? (8/13/21)
• Should Democrats’ Reconciliation Bill for Infrastructure Include Immigration Reforms? (7/10/21)
• Senate Parliamentarian Issues Ruling Allowing Democrats to Reuse Reconciliation - What Does it Mean? (4/7/21)
• Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against Democrats’ $15 Minimum Wage Policy in COVID-19 Relief Bill (2/25/21)

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: ray_explores via Flickr / Creative Commons)