The House this week passed a budget resolution that tees up the reconciliation process in order to pass a bill focused on social program spending. After the vote, the chamber returned to its August recess.
After a negotiation between House Democratic leadership and some House Democrat moderates regarding plans for the chamber to address both the reconciliation effort as well as a recent Senate-passed infrastructure bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) brought the budget resolution to the House floor for a vote. Pelosi agreed that the chamber will consider the infrastructure bill in late September when the House returns from recess.
The Senate on August 10 passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 – a bill focused on hard infrastructure like roads and bridges – and immediately proceeded to an amendment voting session on the budget resolution that triggered the reconciliation process. Following that amendment voting session, the Senate passed the budget resolution by a party-line vote.
Each of the eleven committees of jurisdiction now have until September 15 to finish their individual bills according to the instructions from the budget resolution to build the final reconciliation bill.
In addition to annual appropriations bills and other spending including infrastructure and reconciliation, Congress must also address the debt ceiling, which expired on July 31, 2021. There is currently no indication that the reconciliation budget resolution in either chamber includes any reference to addressing the debt ceiling.
