GOP to Roll Back Reconciliation Rules

A look at the GOP’s proposed rules for the House reveals some fine print to their deficit-cutting plan. Back in 2007, Republicans used budget reconciliation, a process immune to filibuster, to pass the Bush tax cuts and raise the deficit, two things reconciliation wasn’t meant to be used for. When Democrats took Congress, they changed House rules to prevent such a move being made again. But the GOP’s proposed House rules roll back the changes. Specifically, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the new rules would allow reconciliation to be used for bills that increase the deficit through tax cuts, though not bills that contain spending that would increase the deficit.