GOP Plans to Deploy Obscure Rule (Byrd Rule) as Weapon Against Spending Bill

Source: Bloomberg

GOP Plans to Deploy Obscure Rule as Weapon Against Spending Bill

Ari Natter
Mon, August 1, 2022 at 8:56 PM·3 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Republicans are using an obscure rule named for the Senate’s longest-serving member to challenge provisions of the Democrats’ surprise tax, health and climate deal in the hopes of whittling down the legislation.

They’re planning to challenge many of the provisions in the 725-page, $433 billion bill using the so-called Byrd Rule, which sharply limits the ability to pass legislation with a simple majority, a process known as reconciliation.

The rule, named for the late Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, allows individual pieces of a measure to be challenged on the grounds that they are incidental or extraneous to the budget. It was used successfully by Republicans to knock out immigration reform from a previous version of the Democratic package.

“We’ll try and challenge everything we possibly can,” Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said in an interview in the Capitol Monday. “If we can knock it all out that would be a good thing.”

Other non-climate aspects of Democrats $433 billion spending bill, which could receive a Senate vote this week using the budget reconciliation process, could face Republican objections as well. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said measures related to lowering prescription drug prices was “going to be Byrd-able.”

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