Democrats propose using reconciliation to promote immigration reform

Reforming the entire immigration system has been a recurring discussion in the White House since President Biden took office in late January 2021. His administration plans to restructure most immigration processes to boost the economy with the help of foreign workforce while offering international protection to extremely vulnerable immigrant communities.

However, the executive power of the president of the US and his team goes to a certain extent and, to implement certain changes on immigration policies, his administration needs congressional approval, both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Therefore, the Biden administration unveiled a rather ambitious and comprehensive immigration bill during his first days in office, which is currently under congressional review and must be approved by the Senate to become law.

This immigration bill would substantially transform the way the federal government approaches the immigration sector and involves all kinds of immigration processes, from visa programs, humanitarian alternatives, benefits for undocumented immigrants, immigration law enforcement, deportation proceedings and border protocols.

Currently, there is a growing debate within Congress related to this immigration bill, mainly in the Senate, which is delaying Biden’s plans and could be an obstacle to implement lasting changes to the immigration system.

As a result, several Democratic members of Congress are urging the Biden administration to use the budget reconciliation process to pass comprehensive immigration reform, also known as “reconciliation”.

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What is the reconciliation process?

The reconciliation process was first approved under the “Congressional Budget Act of 1974” and, broadly speaking, states that certain Democratic priorities might be passed without following regular protocol.

Usually, for a bill to become law, it needs 60 votes in the Senate. However, the US administration could opt for the reconciliation process to expedite and pass certain eligible legislation without the need to obtain these votes in the Senate.

The reason why Democratic members are proposing to use reconciliation to pass immigration reform is because the Biden administration would need the support of 10 Republican members to continue with its immigration plans, and that is a very unlikely scenario.

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Does President Biden plan to use reconciliation?

This is not the first time Democratic members have asked Biden to use the reconciliation process to improve the immigration system. In fact, in one of our most recent articles, we talked about a group of Latino lawmakers who made the same request to the current president of the US.

President Biden has been open to different proposals and ideas to promote comprehensive immigration reform, which is extremely necessary to implement policies in line with current global conditions and attract talent from abroad.

On the one hand, Biden states that he expects bipartisan support in Congress to avoid using tools like reconciliation and, on the other hand, he is also willing to break his immigration bill into pieces to achieve at least some progress on the immigration sector.

However, Biden could also decide to use reconciliation if he does not get support in the Senate mainly because reforming the immigration system is a priority for his administration.

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