The Budget Reconciliation Process and the Statutory Limit on the Debt

The Budget Reconciliation Process and the Statutory Limit on the Debt

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The Budget Reconciliation Process and the
Statutory Limit on the Debt
Updated November 8, 2022
The budget reconciliation process is an optional, expedited legislative process provided under the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended (P.L. 93-344; the Budget Act). It consists of several
different stages, beginning with the adoption of the budget resolution. The purpose of the reconciliation
process is to allow Congress to use special procedures when considering legislation that would bring
existing budgetary laws into compliance with the fiscal policies that Congress establishes in the annual
budget resolution.
If Congress intends to use this process, reconciliation directives (also referred to as reconciliation
instructions) must be included in the annual budget resolution. These directives trigger the second stage of
the process by instructing individual committees to develop and report legislation that would change laws
within their respective jurisdictions related to direct spending, revenue, or the debt limit.
Once a specified committee develops legislation in response to a reconciliation directive, that legislation
is eligible to be considered under expedited procedures in both the House and the Senate. These
procedures are especially important in the Senate, as they include a 20-hour limit on debate time and
therefore mean that reconciliation legislation does not require the support of three-fifths of all Senators to
bring debate to a close.
The Debt Limit in Reconciliation Legislation
The Budget Act specifies that a budget resolution may include reconciliation directives instructing a
committee to report legislation that would (1) change levels of direct spending, (2) change levels of
revenue, and (3) change the amount of the statutory limit on the public debt.
Specifically, in relation to the statutory limit on the public debt, Section 310(a) of the Budget Act reads in
part:
Sec. 310(a) INCLUSION OF RECONCILIATION DIRECTIVES IN CONCURRENT
RESOLUTIONS ON THE BUDGET.—A concurrent resolution on the budget for any fiscal year,
to the extent necessary to effectuate the provisions and requirements of such resolution, shall … (3)
specify the amounts by which the statutory limit on the public debt is to be changed and direct the
committee having jurisdiction to recommend such change.
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Budget reconciliation legislation has previously included legislative text increasing the statutory debt
limit, most recently in 1997. The four instances in which this occurred are presented in the table below.
Table 1. Reconciliation Legislation That Increased the Statutory Debt Limit
Relevant
Budget
Enactment Date
Resolution
(Congress)
(Fiscal Year)
Reconciliation Bill
Section
October 21, 1986
S.Con.Res. 120
Omnibus Budget
SEC. 8201. TEMPORARY INCREASE IN PUBLIC
(99th Congress)
(FY1987)
Reconciliation Act of 1986
DEBT LIMIT.
(P.L. 99-509)
November 5, 1990 H.Con.Res. 310
Omnibus Budget
SEC. 11901. INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.
(101st Congress)
(FY1991)
Reconciliation Act of 1990
(P.L. 101-508)
August 10, 1993
H.Con.Res. 64
Omnibus Budget
SEC. 13411. INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.
(103rd Congress)
(FY1994)
Reconciliation Act of 1993
(P.L. 103-66)
August 5, 1997
H.Con.Res. 84
Balanced Budget Act of 1997 SEC. 5701. INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.
(105th Congress)
(FY1998)
(P.L. 105-33)
Source: CRS.
Restrictions on Debt Limit Language in Reconciliation
Legislation
Because the reconciliation process is intended to expedite the ability of the House and Senate to
implement the budget policies adopted in the budget resolution, not all policy options or legislative
language may be included. The House and Senate have adopted rules and other rulemaking provisions
that place restrictions on what may be included in a reconciliation bill. In one instance specifically related
to the public debt limit, the budget resolution for FY2016 included a temporary prohibition in the Senate
against considering a reconciliation bill for FY2016 if it included an increase in the public debt limit.
Although the Budget Act generally allows an increase in the debt limit to be included in budget
reconciliation legislation, there have been no rulings made on points of order raised in the House or
Senate with respect to language in budget reconciliation legislation concerning the debt limit. Therefore,
there are no precedents in either chamber related to interpreting the applicability of any prohibitions in
budgetary rules specifically concerning the debt limit and reconciliation. Consequently, any limits on the
policy options or legislative language that may be used to implement Section 310(a)(3) are unclear. The
sole definitive source for interpreting House and Senate rules is the Office of the Parliamentarian for each
respective chamber.
For example, questions have arisen as to whether legislation suspending the debt limit would be
appropriate for inclusion in reconciliation. When addressing the statutory debt limit in recent decades,
Congress has either increased the debt limit to a fixed dollar amount or suspended the debt limit for a
specified period of time. In more recent years, it has been the general practice of Congress to suspend the
debt limit rather than increase it to a specific level. Since early 2013, seven bills have suspended the
statutory debt limit, and one has been enacted to increase the debt limit (P.L. 117-50, enacted October 14,
2021).
Because the language of Section 310(a)(3) specifies only that reconciliation directives may direct
changing the “amount” of the debt limit, it could be argued that it would not be permitted either to include

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a reconciliation directive in a budget resolution that specified a suspension of the debt limit or for
subsequent reconciliation legislation to provide for a suspension. On the other hand, it might be allowed
because suspending the debt limit and raising the debt limit might be considered equivalent as policy
options. A lack of precedents on this matter, however, means that it is not clear whether reconciliation
directives can specify that the debt limit be suspended rather than increased, and it is not clear whether a
suspension of the debt limit would be permitted in a budget reconciliation bill.

Author Information

Megan S. Lynch
James V. Saturno
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

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