Budget Reconciliation: The Majority's Rushed & One-Sided Process for COVID Relief
OVERVIEW:
House Approval of Budget Reconciliation Resolution
Just one month into the 117th Congress, Speaker Pelosi brought a vote to the Floor on legislation that would approve the use of the budget reconciliation process to pass a multi-trillion dollar COVID relief measure.
Ranking Member Sam Graves voiced his strong concerns with the Majority's rushed, partisan process. He pointed out that in 2020, the T&I Committee worked across the aisle to pass $113 billion in relief for transportation industry workers and businesses, and nearly $50 billion for federal disaster relief and economic programs. But the Majority's latest $95.62 billion budget measure in T&I Committee programs' funding was written without any bipartisan input at all.
T&I Committee Markup of the Budget Measure's Transportation Portion
A week later, on February 10, 2021, the T&I Committee held a markup of the $95.62 billion portion of Pelosi's budget measure that fell within its jurisdiction. Despite including no Republican input in the writing of the budget measure, the Majority refused to adopt any Republican-offered amendments that would have integrated commonsense changes and even bipartisan priorities.
The Majority ignored Ranking Member Sam Graves' concerns about being unable to see the full impact of the previously allocated relief funds before moving forward with a new measure, and with billions of dollars yet to be delivered to its intended recipients in some cases. The measure went on to pass out of the Committee without including any Republican input.
T&I Republicans Officially Submit Detailed Views of Opposition to the Budget Measure
After markup, T&I Republicans officially submitted their dissenting minority views to the House Budget Committee. They outlined their concerns with the utterly one-sided process that completely prevented meaningful amendment debate, and which crushed opportunities to create more parity for rural areas, provide greater accountability, and curtail Chinese influence over U.S. businesses -- just to cite a few examples.
OP-ED:
Ranking Member Graves Op-Ed: Highly Partisan Budget Process May Roadblock Infrastructure Progress (02/23/2021)
PRESS RELEASES:
Graves Statement on the Majority’s Rushed, Partisan Budget Process (02/03/2021)
Graves Statement from Today’s Markup of the Majority’s Rushed, Partisan Budget Measure (02/20/2021)
Committee Majority Ignores Republican Input on One-Sided Budget Reconciliation Measure (02/10/2021)
ICYMI: T&I Majority Votes Against Addressing Rural America, Greater Support for Vaccine Distribution Efforts, and Strengthening Accountability (02/16/2021)
T&I Republicans Detail Their Opposition to Budget Reconciliation Measure in Submission to Committee on the Budget (02/17/2021)
ADDITIONAL MEDIA:
