Caren: Thanks for reading the piece and commenting. Having worked on the Hill, I am very familiar with budget reconciliation rules. I’m not quite as sure as you are that the Democrats can pass the bill without any GOP votes. At a minimum, I expect changes to what has been proposed so far. You may be right that Democrats can win using reconciliation, but its a dangerous precedent, especially if the GOP rises again (I hope it won’t). The proposed use of reconciliation is also inconsistent with the original intention for the reconciliation process, at least in my view.

In any case, it will be an interesting few weeks as this legislation moves through Congress.