Senate has a rare secret weapon to approve a stimulus check faster. Here’s how it works

President Joe Biden has busily signed a slew of executive orders on his own, from COVID-19 testing to converting the federal vehicle fleet to EVs, which has let him initiate changes without Congressional approval. But in order to enact his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan to send a third stimulus check, inject money into the economy and boost vaccine distribution, Biden will need 60 votes in the Senate. That means 10 Republican votes in the evenly split Senate to approve a new stimulus check and then some.

To get those votes, Biden and members of Congress could spend weeks negotiating the details of a package that would satisfy Democrats and win over enough Senate Republicans to pass the bill. But Biden has said repeatedly, both before and after becoming president, that getting more aid to the country can’t wait. “We have to act. We have to act now,” President Joe Biden said days after taking office.

However, there is one tool that Democrats could use to bypass objections in both the Senate and House of Representatives: budget reconciliation. Using it would make it possible to pass the stimulus bill in both the House and Senate with just a simple majority of votes. While the House has a larger Democratic majority, budget reconciliation could have a direct effect on the outcome of a Senate vote. Here’s how.

What budget reconciliation is

Budget reconciliation is a parliamentary tool Congress can use to speed the passage of legislation. The reconciliation can start with the House and Senate budget committees, before the budget moves to a vote. The House is already making moves to start the reconciliation process and push through Biden’s package without Republican support.

In the Senate specifically, budget reconciliation needs a simple majority to pass instead of the normal 60 votes required for spending or revenue legislation. The bill also can’t be tied up with a filibuster, where a senator can use a variety of delaying tactics to block or delay a bill.

Because it can be used to pass fiscal legislation that may not have bipartisan support, the budget reconciliation process comes with strict limits, not only on how it can be used but on how often Congress can use it. 

First, it can be used just for legislation that changes federal spending, revenues and debt limits, like Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus package. Something called the Byrd Rule — named after former West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd — prevents items that don’t fit into one of the three budget categories from being included. 

Second, the Senate can consider only one reconciliation per year for each of the budget categories: spending, revenue and debt. Because Congress didn’t adopt a budget resolution in 2020 for the 2021 budget, this year’s Congress may have two opportunities to use the tool, once now and once again when it adopts a budget to find the government in the fall.

How budget reconciliation could get a stimulus package approved

With an evenly divided Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris — serving as the president and presiding officer of the Senate — can cast a tie-breaking vote if the Senate is at a standoff on a bill.

By using the budget reconciliation process, Congressional Democrats would be able to push through the parts of Biden’s American Rescue Plan that meet the requirements without Republican assistance, by having Harris break ties.

Not everything Biden wants to accomplish would meet the requirements for reconciliation. Boosting the minimum wage to $15 may fall outside the requirements. Likewise, using the process to fund reopening schools may be outside the limits of the tool.

While Biden has said he wants to work with Congressional Republicans to reach bipartisan agreements on his legislative agenda — and a group of 10 moderate Senate Republicans have proposed an alternative $600 billion rescue bill they say could win Republican support — the President may decide the fastest path to approve for his plan is through budget reconciliation.

How budget reconciliation has been used before

Congress has successfully used the reconciliation process just 21 times since 1980, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The most recent use of the budget reconciliation process was, under former President Donald Trump, when Congress used the tool to pass the administration’s tax cuts in 2017. During the presidency of Barack Obama, Congress used the process to amend the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

For more on the next stimulus package, here’s where things stand on Biden’s proposal, what you need to know about stimulus checks, and what is happening with federal unemployment assistance.