An interesting article at Congressional Quarterly explains why Barack Obama won’t necessarily need a filibuster-proof Senate majority to enact most of what he wants to accomplish:
Democratic politicians and activists are giddy over visions of a 60-seat majority in the Senate next year, but experts say they don’t need quite that many to rewrite a wide range of national policies to reflect the priorities of their presidential nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama , if he is elected.
Primarily, that’s because Senate rules provide for expedited consideration of the budget bills, known as “reconciliation” measures, that have become the favored legislative vehicles for the most ambitious spending and tax plans of recent presidents.
Reconciliation bills, spawned by annual budget resolutions and protected from filibuster, need only a bare majority to pass the Senate. However, a larger operating cushion for the party in power is sometimes necessary to pass reconciliation measures, as was the case in 1993, when Vice President Al Gore’s tie-breaking vote was needed to pass a budget reconciliation measure despite Democrats holding 56 seats in the Senate.
Eric M. Ueland, who served as chief of staff to former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, said a good portion of Obama’s agenda could be handled under reconciliation if he wins.
“A lot of the ideas are framed within a 10-year window, are run through the tax code, and therefore are obvious candidates for fast-track under reconciliation in the Senate,” Ueland said. “For example, on health and tax policy, there is an aggressive amount of tax-law change within Obama policy proposals that lend themselves to fitting easily under a reconciliation framework.”
With the Democrats on track to start 2009 with at least 57 Senators, things are looking rather good for future President Obama.
