Normally, the Senate requires a 60-vote majority to pass any legislation—a high bar that makes it hard for the Senate to quickly pass major pieces of legislation. Budget Reconciliation, often referred to as just reconciliation, is a legislative maneuver that allows the majority to get around this 60-vote threshold.
The trick with must-pass bills is members of Congress (MoCs) can use them as an opportunity to attach policy changes, even if those policies would be difficult to pass on their own. The thinking is, if members can manage to get their policy priority into the must-pass bill, other MoCs will have to support it because they want to avoid a shutdown.
The Byrd rule has been law since 1990, and has been used successfully dozens of times to block so-called “extraneous” (unrelated) provisions that shouldn’t get passed through reconciliation.
Indivisible is proud to provide direct financial support to Indivisible groups for their collaborative and capacity-building projects. Our Grassroots Organizing Wins (GROW) grants program is a way for registered Indivisible groups to get funding for their activities and trainings. Potential applicants only need is a Distributed Fundrasisig account and a great project pitch.
At the start of the 117th Congress, House Democrats adopted new rules for the House of Representatives, which included reforms to the Motion to Recommit (MTR). While Indivisible’s preferred solution was to simply get rid of the MTR all together, the new reforms are an important step in the right direction.
Our political landscape and an ongoing global pandemic create daily opportunities for bad actors to fabricate new conspiracies, push false information, and exacerbate social tensions. Disinformation and online attacks spread rapidly, leaving us to make difficult decisions about when and how to respond to what we see online.
While working the policy challenges at all levels of government with partner organizations, we are guided and empowered by directly-impacted immigrants like the DACA recipients who changed their own destinies in 2012. We support the work of legislators who advance progressive immigration goals and put pressure on those who exploit nativism and try to divide Black and Brown communities.
