Beltway Confidential

Partisan budget reconciliation strategy burns bridges

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Published August 26, 2021 2:00pm ET
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Partisan budget reconciliation strategy burns bridges
Members Congress clinb the steps of the House of Representatives for final votes, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 31, 2014. Congress ran full-tilt into election-year gridlock over immigration Thursday and staggered toward a five-week summer break with no agreement in sight on legislation to cope with the influx of young immigrants flocking illegally to the United States. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) | (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Even as they push a $1 trillion infrastructure spending package, Democrats are burning bridges with their partisan $3.5 trillion federal budget.

This spending plan will make it difficult to tackle big items on the horizon, such as the debt ceiling. To be fair, it’s been a bipartisan effort to turn the annual budget into a partisan effort. This is only the latest misuse of the budget solely to unlock the quick-pass reconciliation mechanism that follows on the heels of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and on key portions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

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