The recent passage of President Donald Trump’s massive omnibus Big Beautiful Bill was a necessary step in implementing the MAGA agenda, but it also highlighted a massive structural problem with the way things are done in Washington.
Currently, because of the need for 60 votes to break a Senate filibuster, we have a situation where the budget reconciliation process is the only way for an administration of either party to pass anything meaningful into actual law instead of relying on executive orders to get things done. Consequently, everything under the sun, both good and bad depending on whose votes you need to pass the thing, is necessarily packed into these gigantic omnibus bills that either pass or fail as one entity.
Debt ceilings are done away with, deficits are raised, and the ruling party goes on a spending spree that would make Scrooge McDuck diving into his money bin look like he’s on a shoestring budget. What’s worse, politicians, even well-meaning ones, are forced to hold their noses and vote for things they hate in order to get things they like or need passed, and the ones who do insert the awful budget priorities are rarely held accountable by voters.
The lack of accountability is the worst thing here, and it’s doubtless a key reason why so many lawmakers love it or at least accept the status quo. “We had to pass the bill” is a common retort when challenged on some awful provision by media or someone in their home districts. And they aren’t always wrong, which is the real tragedy, especially when their votes are unfairly used by political opponents to primary them. (To be sure, sometimes squishes NEED to be primaried, but it should be because of a whole body of work, not a single vote on an omnibus bill that most Republicans voted for.)
Sadly, politicians who reject the entire system, like Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul, become Washington pariahs for merely wanting to vote on items separately without supporting the entire behemoth. Except, though they do have a point on how the overall system SHOULD work, they also in a way don’t have a point at all because that isn’t how the system DOES work. The problem is that if you split every item up into individual bills and required separate votes on each, the budget reconciliation process, which is currently Senate filibuster-proof, wouldn’t apply. Meaning that every Senate vote on every bill would require a supermajority of 60 to invoke cloture and end debate. In today’s extremely partisan era, try getting 60 senators to agree on the color of the sky, much less entitlements or tax policy.
So we’re stuck with a system whereby gigantic omnibus bills that contain both good and bad provisions are the only laws that can pass Congress, and there’s no ultimate accountability for the people who vote for them. At least for now. At least until we try something different.
‘What could possibly fix this?’ you ask. Well, you’re not going to like the answer but here goes: Republicans should eliminate or severely reform the Senate filibuster so individual items that currently make up omnibus budget reconciliation bills can be voted on separately and pass or fail with a simple majority.
See, I told you you wouldn’t like it. But before you comment, please consider at least telling readers what your alternative fix would be. You also should consider that eliminating the filibuster really isn’t as big a deal as you think. It’s not like it’s some sort of sacrosanct part of how we do government in the United States. Before the rules were changed in 1975 to allow for non-talking filibusters, delays were limited to physical limitations and weren’t really limitless. And since then, the filibuster has been weakened several times by Senate leaders who recognized that absolutely nothing in government would get done unless it happened; by Democrats in 2013 for executive and judicial nominations, then later by Republicans in 2017 for Supreme Court nominations.
Stuffing everything into the budget reconciliation process is just another extension of that. It’s essentially passing laws by bypassing the filibuster, and lawmakers can do it with almost zero accountability to voters. No wonder so many are so reluctant to do away with the current system.
The final reason Republicans should take the first bite at the apple on this is Democrats have already stated that they are going to do it anyway once they get power. So it’s a moot point. It’s going to end, it’s just a matter of time. But if our side did it first and was able to reform the system and pass meaningful legislation that helped the American people, it would be politically difficult for the other side to even win again, much less win the trifecta and reverse popular legislation.
If you’re still arguing against nuking the filibuster, you should know that it’s effectively gone already. It’s just that politicians are able to avoid accountability by passing omnibus bills instead of individual laws. Unless you’re a fan of said omnibus bills being a part of politics until the money finally runs out for good, eliminating the filibuster is your only hope.