Move begins budget reconciliation process for Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus plan

The House on February 3 passed, by a vote of 218-212, a fiscal 2021 budget resolution (H Con Res 11) that will, once the Senate also passes the blueprint, allow congressional Democrats to begin using the expedited budget-reconciliation process to pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill. The vote fell largely along party lines, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in voting against.

Attached with this alert please find the text of H Con Res 11, as well as a PDF from the House Budget Committee outlining the budget and its projected effects over 10 years.

The Senate has begun 50 hours of debate on its own resolution and is expected to vote on it later this week. Passage of the FY21 budget resolution by both chambers would allow the stimulus bill to pass the Senate with 50 votes plus the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Harris, rather than be subject to the 60-vote threshold required to overcome a filibuster. Legislation passed under budget reconciliation must comply with complex rules regarding its fiscal effects, however.

The House budget blueprint includes reconciliation instructions to 12 committees to report recommendations that may result in an increase of the deficit by more than $2.1 trillion over the FY 2021—2030 period back to the Budget Committee by February 16. The amount of deficit-increasing recommendations per House committee is roughly as follows.

The Senate budget resolution has reconciliation instructions for $1.9 trillion, and the House's has about $2.1 trillion, though the excess above the stimulus bill target is attributable to overlapping jurisdictional factors.

While the resolution does not specify particular elements of President Biden's American Rescue Plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have said the bill as fleshed out by committees in the weeks ahead would ultimately include the components the president has outlined, such as:

• $1,400 in additional direct payments to individuals
• Extended pandemic-related unemployment aid through September
• $350 billion in state, local, tribal and territorial aid
• Funding for COVID-19 vaccines, testing and public health programs
• Funding to reopen K-12 schools and support child care centers
• Housing and homelessness aid
• Small business aid, including a dedicated grant program for restaurants
• Investments in broadband and other infrastructure

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ATTACHMENTS

Budget Resolution

Budget Resolution and Reconciliation