Today, Explained - Hot Senate procedural news

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

On Monday night, the Senate parliamentarian gave Democrats an unprecedented blessing. Vox’s Ella Nilsen and Li Zhou explain what they might do with it. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The all-new FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino is bringing you more action than ever. Want more ways to follow your faves? Check out our new player prop tracking with real-time notifications. Or how about more ways to customize your casino page with our new favorite and recently played games tabs. And to top it all off, quick and secure withdrawals. Get more everything with FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600.

Visit connectsontario.ca. Some people say things never change in Washington, but last night something sort of changed. Ellen Nelson, you cover Washington for Vox. What changed last night? Yeah, so Senate Democrats got some wonky procedural news that actually has some pretty big implications for President Joe Biden's agenda. Okay, before we talk about what changed and what the news is, let's just talk about who changed something or who made the news. Who was it? Sure. This is Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough. She is basically the Senate's in-house rules expert who interprets hundreds, if not thousands. I don't know how many Senate rules there are, but there are a lot.

So she is the person who interprets the rules. And just as a reminder, because we've talked about Liz before, can I call her Liz? Do you know? I don't. I'm not on a first name basis with her. Hi. Today Explained producer Will Reed here. I checked and people do call her Liz. So we've covered Liz before on the show. And the funny thing about her is that unelected, yeah? Yes. Elizabeth McDonough began working in the parliamentarian's office as an assistant

parliamentarian. Elizabeth McDonough is the Senate's first woman parliamentarian and possibly the most praised Senate parliamentarian ever. Democratic leader Harry Reid promoted her to parliamentarian in 2012. And Mitch McConnell has praised her fairness and judgment, calling her a brilliant lawyer. And the reason we've talked about her on the show before is because she came up a bunch a few weeks ago when Congress was trying to figure out whether it could raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour through budget reconciliation. The House is due to vote today on the $1.9 trillion plan to address the economic impact of the pandemic. But the official in charge of Senate rules says that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour should be removed from the bill.

So ultimately, you know, Democrats are going to try to put a bunch of things in budget reconciliation bills, but she's kind of the decider who gets to say this can stay in, this can't stay in. Okay. And what did the decider decide this time? She basically decided that the technical language is she advised that a revised budget resolution may contain budget reconciliation instructions. So that is a confusing sentence. She decided that a revised budget resolution can feature some budget reconciliation. May contain budget reconciliation instructions. Basically, what that means in non-Senate speaker speak is that Democrats can basically go in and amend a fiscal year 2021

budget bill that they already passed. This was the budget bill that the COVID-19 relief plan was in. That was the American Rescue Plan. Yes. So essentially that bill has already been passed. It's been signed into law. But what she ruled is that they can go in and amend that bill, essentially. What this means broadly is that Democrats have potentially more chances than they did at passing more budget resolution bills. And the reason that that is important is because they can get certain big priorities passed with a simple majority to 51 votes, meaning that they don't need Republican votes. So just to make sure I understand how the Senate works here for a second. Our pal, the Senate parliamentarian, Liz, let's call her. She went in and said that the Democrats

can amend something they've already done and thus gave them another opportunity to do something with their slimmest of majorities in the Senate. Is that right? Yes, that is correct. Why do they need to amend something they've already done to get something new done? Why not just do the new thing? They can do the new thing. They probably will do the new thing. They will pass another, you know, passing another budget resolution for the fiscal year for 2022 was already part of the plan, but they only had a limited number of times they could do this. It was sort of, you know, people had essentially been thinking that they could only do this a total of two times and that they had already used up one of those times. And essentially, amending a budget resolution that has already been

passed gives them up to three chances or, you know, potentially more, depending on what she, you know, if she gives them a hard stop after three. So the idea is that Democrats can go back in to the one that was already passed, amend it to add, say, you know, President Biden's infrastructure plan that was just introduced or elements of that, and then go and pass another budget resolution for fiscal year 2022, it essentially just gives them chances to do more stuff with more budget reconciliation bills. And in theory, if they do the second budget reconciliation, which was for 2022, is that right? Yes. They could then amend that and have like a fourth big thing. Is that right? Yeah. I mean, that's the thing that we still don't totally know. And there's still a lot of questions that we have. And it's worth noting, you know,

I have not seen the parliamentarian's like exact argument yet. We just got a statement from Schumer's office last night basically saying that she agreed with his office's argument of what, you know, this Section 304 said about amending budget resolutions. So, yeah, I mean, in theory, you could amend a few budget resolutions. But I also think that, you know, I'm sure Republicans are going to be arguing there needs to be some mechanism in place so that Democrats, you know, essentially don't get, you know, unlimited wishes or unlimited budget reconciliation bills. I think that there will probably be some parameters around this that we have yet to see. And you mentioned Chuck Schumer's office. Were they the ones asking about this potential amendment to an already passed budget

reconciliation? Yes, his office was the one that brought it up in front of the Senate parliamentarian. So the Democrats are out there asking for sort of more chances to do what they can do with their slimmest of majorities. And here, last night, the Senate parliamentarian appointed by Harry Reid a dozen years ago or so was like, yes. Yes, basically. Is this how the government works now, Ella? This is an unprecedented thing. This is something that hasn't been done before. So it's kind of this like new frontier in Senate procedure. You know, Senate procedure can be kind of dry and boring,

but it does have pretty big implications to what Democrats can get past this year. You know, if Republicans took back the Senate in the midterms, it would have pretty big implications to what Democrats can get past this year. You know, if Republicans took back the Senate in the midterms, it would have pretty dramatic implications for what they could do through budget reconciliation. And, you know, it's important to note that budget reconciliation has to do with budgets. It has to do with taxes, raising the debt limit. There are specific things that Democrats can pass with budget reconciliation, and there are specific things that they can't pass with budget reconciliation. So this doesn't give Democrats this unlimited ability to pass whatever they want through

budget reconciliation. And we, again, have to remember that the same parliamentarian is probably going to be a big deciding force in what can get in and what stays out. But yeah, this is a pretty big deal. Well, Ella, we look forward to having you back to talk about the next time the Senate parliamentarian lets Democrats amend something to their next budget reconciliation bill for 2022. Sounds good. I'm always here to talk about the hot Senate procedural news. Support for Today Explained comes from Aura. Aura believes that sharing pictures is a great Thank you. photos, and videos directly from your phone to the frame. When you give an AuraFrame as a gift, you can personalize it. You can preload it with a thoughtful message, maybe your favorite photos.

Our colleague Andrew tried an AuraFrame for himself. So setup was super simple. In my case, we were celebrating my grandmother's birthday. And she's very fortunate. She's got 10 grandkids. And so we wanted to surprise her with the AuraFrame. And because she's a little bit older, it was just easier for us to source all the images together and have them uploaded to the frame itself. And because we're all connected over text message, it was just so easy to send a link to everybody. You can save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's

best-selling Carvermat frames with promo code EXPLAINED at checkout. That's A-U-R-A-Frames.com promo code EXPLAINED. This deal is exclusive to listeners and available just in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions do apply. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style,

there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk, an authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions

or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Today, today, explain. Okay, so the Democrats in the Senate can do a little bit more than they thought they could do. But what are they gonna do? Lizzo, Vox, what do you think? There is a ton that they can do now because anything that's related to spending taxes in the budget technically falls under the purview of reconciliation. So that includes infrastructure. It includes massive caregiving investments as well as potentially health care legislation.

So there's actually quite a bit available to Democrats. And what will really be interesting to see is if they can get all 50 members of their caucus on board to come together and support something. Okay, so like a window has opened here, but it sounds like the things coming into this window are things we already knew that Democrats were going to do or even doing, like infrastructure, caregiving, which is promised to be next, even health care. What feels new to you? It basically is another opportunity to do something without needing to get any Republicans on board. So that level of flexibility is helpful. For example, Democrats can now focus their most immediate budget bill solely on infrastructure and try to sell it as this

targeted package on roads, bridges, broadband, electric vehicles, that kind of thing. And maybe they can use that next option to do a caregiving bill that also covers health care tax credits to make child care more affordable for people. I guess it feels like the question might be, like, how does this stuff really work? Like, does it benefit Democrats to just focus on infrastructure? Because I have heard there is a criticism of the infrastructure bill that, like, it's too many things versus throwing in some stuff about energy, the environment, even child care in there. Will this help them in the long run sell stuff to their own members? Because it sounds like this is all about just those 50 votes, huh? That's kind of the big reason you would break

apart a bill, because if you were to do infrastructure and child care and health care all in one focus on childcare, which is another $1 trillion, plus whatever the cost would be for everything else. You can make that a bit more palatable to both your moderate members and also to Republicans who might try to paint Democrats as just spending so much money all at once. By breaking it up a little bit, you're kind of able to sell it in a way that is more accessible to people. Is this like another way of sort of working around the filibuster, like getting rid of the filibuster without getting rid of the filibuster? It's basically one way to do that because if

Democrats were able to eliminate the filibuster, then everything could pass with just 51 votes. And since they haven't been able to, they're kind of relying on this to create another avenue to do the bills that are budget bills. And so it's definitely a sign that they are trying to circumvent that particular challenge. And if they were able to get rid of the filibuster, the things that would be coming down the pike are? Voting rights, gun control, immigration reform, police reform, many priorities that Democrats have wanted that will not fall under, you know, what you call a budget bill. Any news on that front? It sounds like Joe Biden's increasingly open to the idea.

So you got to work for the filibuster. So you're for that reform. You're for bringing back the talking filibuster. I am. That's what it was supposed to be. Yeah, he has signaled openness. And what the Senate is actually going to do next is to take normal votes on those bills. And what hopefully, you know, Democrats want to show is if you have unanimous Republican opposition toward everything, that's a reason for Democrats to get rid of the filibuster and be able to advance the agenda that they want. It shows that there is no bipartisan support on any of the measures that we've talked about. Until then, it's all coming down to these 50 votes on budget bills. Do Democrats know that they have 50 votes on infrastructure, on caregiving, on paid family leave, on health care?

They don't. There's a ton of dissent within the caucus itself. And even on something like infrastructure, for example, there's been an increase in the corporate tax rate proposed to 28 percent. And Joe Manchin has already said he's not into it. As the bill exists today, it needs to be changed, Hoppy. The bottom line is that's what legislation is all about. This bill will not be in the same form you've seen it introduced or see people talking about it. Joe Manchin has already said he isn't on board with the entirety of the For the People Act,

which is Democrats' chief voting rights reform bill at the moment. And so you could plausibly see a vote where not all Democrats support some of these measures as well. So at the end of the day, this development last night that came from the Senate parliamentarian's office per Chuck Schumer's request doesn't sound like it's much of a game changer. What it is is an additional opportunity for Democrats to get some of the key things that they want to get done this year done. Is that about right? Yeah, it gives Democrats more of an opening, but it also doesn't mean anything different for a lot of these key pieces of the agenda that weren't going to pass before. So at the end of the day, it all just comes down to Joe. Yes.

Manchin. Yeah. Joe Manchin. Lee Zoe. She wrote about the latest hot Senate procedural news along with Ellen Nielsen. You can read all about it at Vox.com. If this wasn't enough for you, Will we ever be enough for you? The Today Explained team includes

Cecilia Lay, Will Reed, Halima Shah, Muj Zaydi, and wait, what's that? Victoria Chamberlain? Miles Bryan? Wow.

We got two new people, and we are excited. Can you tell? Also some other people. Afim Shapiro is our engineer. Amina Alsadi people and we are excited. Can you tell? Also some other people. Nafim Shapiro is our engineer. Amina Alsadi is our supervising producer. Liz Kelly Nelson is the editorial director of Vox Podcast. Jillian Weinberger is the deputy. Facts Check by Laura Bullard. Music by Breakmaster Cylinder. And Breakmaster Cylinder may or may not, but probably may, make an appearance at our live show in April. It's April 9th, as in Friday. Friday morning, 10 a.m. on the internet via On Air Fest,

which is a free storytelling and podcasting festival taking place this week and weekend. Register at onairfest.com. If you're free around 10 a.m. Eastern Friday, the show will be about 30 minutes long. Onairfest.com for a live episode of Today Explained, which is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hope to see you there. Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова