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- The Senate parliamentarian on Monday cleared the way for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to use reconciliation again.
- Reconciliation allows bills to bypass a potential GOP filibuster.
- This could have implications for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
The Senate parliamentarian on Monday cleared the way for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to use reconciliation to pass additional pieces of legislation, allowing them to bypass a potential GOP filibuster, Schumer’s office said. The legislation can pass with standard majority votes, instead of two-thirds majority support in the Senate.
This could have implications for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package.
The move means that Schumer can pass Biden’s $2.25 trillion jobs and infrastructure package through a revision of the 2021 Budget Resolution, a process that can also be used to pass the second half of the package, The Hill reported.
Schumer’s spokesperson said that the development, “allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues.”
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough issued the opinion on Friday, which means that Democrats can also work to pass the infrastructure bills without immediately trying to end the filibuster.
The move to revisit the 2021 Budget Resolution could also spur additional opportunities to vote on budget-related legislation using the simple-majority votes, which Vice President Kamala Harris holds a tiebreaking vote for.
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