If the House and Senate pass the exact same bill, then it’s game over and on to the President. No further Legislative action. That’s not rules, that’s in the Constitution.
I know that.
But I believe the reconciliation process requires it. They are not reconciling the House Bill vs. the Senate Bill. They are reconciling the Senate Bill. I'm pretty sure that right.
"A reconciliation instruction (Budget Reconciliation) is a provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to submit legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, revenues, or the debt-limit into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted"
Note the "changing existing law". This is why I think that the House has to pass the Senate version and then use the reconciliation process to "fix it".