Bernie Sanders proposes reconciliation for COVID-19 relief package, says ‘we cannot keep waiting’

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders on Sunday said that the Biden administration – not depending on the Republicans – will use reconciliation to pass the COVID-19 relief package, CNN reports. According to the New York Times, US has already crossed the 25 million mark on the scale of coronavirus cases and as President Joe Biden said that the country is likely to cross the 500,000 thousand death mark vouching for the $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told CNN that Democrats will use reconciliation as soon as they possibly can to pass the package by 51 votes in the Senate, rather than 60, if Republicans don’t move the legislation.

“What we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks and months and months to go forward. We have got to act now,” he said.

What is reconciliation?

According to the US Senate’s official website, reconciliation is a process established in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by which Congress changes existing laws to conform tax and spending levels to the levels set in a budget resolution. Changes recommended by committees pursuant to a reconciliation instruction are incorporated into a reconciliation measure.”

In simple terms 

Reconciliation refers to a process where the US Senate can jump past the required majority (60 votes) and pass the given bill or changes in the existing law with one more than half the number of votes (51). Democrats hold 51 votes in the Senate including that of Bernie Sanders. 

Republicans used the reconciliation process when they attempted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in 2017 in the Senate. The GOP successfully used the process months later to overhaul the country’s tax code, which passed with just Republican votes.

Joe Biden has been using the two executive orders to try to ease people’s burdens while Congress negotiates the fate of his proposed US$1.9 trillion stimulus package.

“The American people are hurting and they can’t afford to wait. They need help right now,” White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese said at a press briefing.

“We’re at a precarious moment for the virus and the economy. Without decisive action, we risk falling into a very serious economic hole, even more serious than the crisis we find ourselves in,” he added.