M.I.R.V is an acronym for “Multiple-Impact Reentry Vehicles” used to describe the House special rule, which allows two or more individually passed bills to be combined into one legislative vehicle.
Republicans will protect every crime, every hateful statement, and every lie that their members promote, in order to tighten the grip they have on our democracy.
Normally, the Senate requires a 60-vote majority to pass any legislation—a high bar that makes it hard for the Senate to quickly pass major pieces of legislation. Budget Reconciliation, often referred to as just reconciliation, is a legislative maneuver that allows the majority to get around this 60-vote threshold.
The trick with must-pass bills is members of Congress (MoCs) can use them as an opportunity to attach policy changes, even if those policies would be difficult to pass on their own. The thinking is, if members can manage to get their policy priority into the must-pass bill, other MoCs will have to support it because they want to avoid a shutdown.
The Byrd rule has been law since 1990, and has been used successfully dozens of times to block so-called “extraneous” (unrelated) provisions that shouldn’t get passed through reconciliation.
The introduction of S. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, reflects the growing support across the country to end the disenfranchisement of the district's 700,000 residents. In addition to being a critical democracy reform, D.C. statehood is also a racial justice issue. Historically, conservative politicians have prevented D.C. from becoming a state to prevent D.C.’s black residents from building or wielding their political power. It’s past time to give district residents a voice in Congress and the power to govern its own affairs.