The World

Dems may use reconciliation to pass health care reform

Without enough votes in the Senate to revote on a modified bill and pass health care reform, the Democrats may resort to using a budgetary law known as reconciliation. We discuss the history of reconciliation and why it is so controversial.

Conflict & Justice

Without enough votes in the Senate to revote on a modified bill and pass health care reform, the Democratic Party may resort to using a 1974 budgetary law known as reconciliation. The process protects the bill from filibusters that require a 60-vote majority to end debate, and would instead allow the bill to pass by a simple majority.

Joining us to discuss the history of reconciliation and why it is so controversial are Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway’s Washington correspondent, and Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University and the author of ?Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security, From World War II to the War on Terrorism.?