As Congress considers two massive spending bill – a comprehensive infrastructure bill and what some are calling a “human” infrastructure bill – below are two examples of how complex developing, crafting and passing major legislation has become. First the text than a comparison photo of a similar bill 30 years ago.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that the House will be working closely with the Senate to craft a package that can withstand the complicated “Byrd Rule” in the Senate. That rule mandates a half-dozen tests that individual policy provisions must meet to be included in reconciliation. It’s a hyper-complex process, and Senate Democrats have already been conferring with the Senate parliamentarians to hash out some policy questions. But Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough can’t formally rule on anything until her office sees legislative text, and that hasn’t happened yet. So the product that emerges from these markups could be altered significantly.
