Explainers/Budget
Budget reconciliation, explained
The procedure that lets a Senate majority pass major fiscal legislation without 60 votes, and the limits on it.
5 min read|Updated July 27, 2026
Reconciliation is a special process created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Congress first adopts a budget resolution instructing committees to change spending, revenue, or the debt limit by set amounts. The resulting bill gets limited debate in the Senate and passes with a simple majority.
- Senate votes needed
- 51, or 50 plus the vice president
- Debate time limit
- 20 hours, followed by a marathon amendment vote-a-rama
- Main constraint
- The Byrd rule, which strips provisions that are merely incidental to the budget
- Created by
- The Congressional Budget Act of 1974
How does the process start?
Both chambers must adopt the same budget resolution containing reconciliation instructions. Those instructions name committees and give each a dollar target and a deadline. The Budget Committee then assembles the committee submissions into one bill, which moves under the protected procedures.
What is the Byrd rule?
Named for Senator Robert Byrd, it bars extraneous provisions from a reconciliation bill. A provision can be struck if it does not change spending or revenue, if the budget effect is merely incidental to the policy, if it falls outside the committee's jurisdiction, or if it increases deficits beyond the budget window. The parliamentarian advises on each challenge in what is known as a Byrd bath.
What has passed this way?
Reconciliation has carried some of the largest fiscal laws of the past four decades, including welfare changes in 1996, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, parts of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the 2017 tax law, the 2021 pandemic relief package, and the 2022 climate and health law.
Why not use it for everything?
Most policy does not survive the Byrd rule. Rules on immigration, labor standards, voting, or regulation are generally struck as incidental to the budget. Congress is also limited in how many reconciliation bills it can produce per budget resolution, and the process consumes weeks of floor time.