Free Republic

Sen. Joe Manchin said he does not believe immigration reform will make it into the budget reconciliation bill, delivering a blow to immigration activists who had hoped Democrats would pass a pathway to citizenship without the help of Republicans. 'I don't think it's going to be in there. I really don't,' the West Virginia Democrat told Latino Rebels on Monday afternoon. 'I think it's too big for that.' Manchin said he is 'totally committed' to the need for immigration reform but but he is unwilling to 'bust the Byrd Rule.'

The Senate parliamentarian ruled Thursday that the $15 per hour minimum wage cannot be included in the Democrats’ proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package. The controversial proposal in the House bill seeks to gradually raise the federal minimum wage, which has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009, to $15 by 2025. Elizabeth MacDonough, the chief Senate parliamentarian, has decided that the minimum wage increase cannot be included under the budget reconciliation process, according to multiple reports. Per the Byrd Rule—a procedural step for determining the eligibility of a provision to be included in a reconciliation bill—MacDonough and her team...

According to the Associated Press, President Obama intends to write his own version of the Health Care Legislation, and attach it to the budget, using a procedure called reconciliation to eliminate the need for any Republican votes. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Byrd Rule, named for Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia could quickly derail the President's attempt to pass Health Care Legislation through budget reconciliation. The Byrd Rule, adopted in 1985, states that any provision or amendment of a budget reconciliation bill that any Senator decides is "extraneous" would automatically be stripped from...