Schumer eyes bypassing filibuster

Schumer’s staff recently argued to the parliamentarian that they could use Section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act, which green-lights the use of reconciliation, to tee up passing at least a third bill this year by a simple majority, an aide for the New York Democrat confirmed.

"Schumer wants to maximize his options to allow Senate Democrats multiple pathways to advance President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda if Senate Republicans try to obstruct or water down a bipartisan agreement," the Schumer aide added.
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Typically Congress can only pass one bill under reconciliation per fiscal year. Democrats have already used the 2021 budget to set up and pass their $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan. They are likely to use the fiscal 2022 budget to pass Biden’s Build Back Better plan that includes infrastructure, jobs and addressing climate change.

But Schumer’s staff is arguing that they could use Section 304 to squeeze out another bill under the fiscal year 2021 budget, pointing to language that states “the two Houses may adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which revises or reaffirms the concurrent resolution on the budget for such fiscal year most recently agreed to.”

No decision has been made on legislative strategy, according to the Schumer aide. The discussions were first reported by Politico Playbook.

But the talk of trying to find additional pathways to avoiding the filibuster comes as Biden is expected to unveil his next economic proposal on Wednesday.

"If they don't, our caucus will come together and we will discuss the best way to produce that big, bold action. And as I've said before, everything, everything is on the table," he added. LINK