Byrd Rule in the United States

Byrd Rule in the Federal Budget Process

Meaning of Byrd Rule in the congressional and executive budget processes (GAO source): A rule of the Senate that allows a senator to strike extraneous material in, or proposed to be in, reconciliation legislation or the related conference report. The rule defines six provisions that are “extraneous,” including a provision that does not produce a change in outlays or revenues and a provision that produces changes in outlays or revenues that are merely incidental to the nonbudgetary components of the provision. The Byrd Rule was first enacted as section 20001 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 and later transferred in 1990 to section 313 of the Congressional Budget Act (2 U.S.C. § 644). The rule is named after its primary sponsor, Senator Robert C. Byrd. (See also Reconciliation; Reconciliation Bill; Reconciliation Instruction; Reconciliation Resolution.)

Resources

See Also

• Federal Appropriations
• Entries about the United States Budget Process in the Encyclopedia (including Byrd Rule)
• Public Debt

Further Reading

• Legislatures and the budget process: the myth of fiscal control

  (J Wehner, 2010)

• Reconcilable Differences?: Congress, the Budget Process, and the Deficit (JB Gilmour, 1990)
• Fiscal institutions and fiscal performance

  (JM Poterba, J von Hagen, 2008)