This week, the Senate passed its budget reconciliation bill in a 50-50 vote. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) joined all Senate Democrats in opposing the bill. Vice President J.D. Vance served as the tie-breaking vote.
This vote came after an intensive review from the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. The Senate Parliamentarian reviews every provision to ensure it complies with the Byrd Rule, which is named after former Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV). The Byrd Rule is designed to keep unrelated measures out of budget reconciliation bills. Under this rule, provisions can be removed if they don’t directly impact federal spending or revenue, if their budgetary effect is considered “merely incidental,” or if they increase the deficit beyond the timeframe set by the budget resolution.
During this review, the parliamentarian initially ruled that the provisions on workforce Pell and private school vouchers did violate the Byrd Rule. In response, the Senate Republicans slimmed down these provisions to ensure that they were compliant with the Byrd Rule.
Initially, the parliamentarian ruled that the expansion of Pell Grant access violated the Byrd Rule because of the provision that gave access to unaccredited programs. Lawmakers reinserted the section and removed the ability for unaccredited programs to be eligible for Pell Grants.
Additionally, the parliamentarian ruled that the provision creating a $5,000 tax for K-12 private school vouchers violated the Byrd Rule. The revised bill language limits the credit to states that currently authorize Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGO) and makes a few other changes.
The bill now moves back to the House where lawmakers will either vote on the Senate bill, amend the bill and send it back to the Senate, or move to a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two chambers.
ACTE will continue to monitor the progress of the budget reconciliation process and provide regular updates to our membership. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).
