In November, Republicans won the White House and gained the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is referred to as a “trifecta.” While a Republican trifecta is significant for many reasons, one of the most significant is the ability for Congress to undergo a process called “budget reconciliation.”
What is budget reconciliation?
Budget reconciliation is a legislative process by which Congress can:
- revise debt limits,
- address federal fiscal spending,
- change tax policy,
- and address a host of other budgetary matters.
What makes a budget reconciliation bill so significant is, in part, that it lowers the vote threshold to move forward with a vote (“invoke cloture”) in the Senate from 60 members to a simple majority of 51. Under the current breakdown of Congress, a budget reconciliation bill could pass both chambers of Congress without needing support from any Democrats.
This creates a unique opportunity for Republicans to pass policies that protect life, support God’s design for marriage and family, and encourage charitable giving.
This creates a unique opportunity for Republicans to pass policies that:
- protect life,
- support God’s design for marriage and family,
- and encourage charitable giving.
What is the ERLC advocating for in this 2025 budget reconciliation?
The ERLC has a list of six pro-life, pro-family policy priorities that have been shared with members of Congress and their staff. These include:
- Defunding Planned Parenthood
- Removing financial barriers for choosing life
- Improving the Adoption Tax Credit
- Reducing marriage penalties, which disincentivize marriage in federal tax law
- Supporting pregnancy resource centers
- Supporting a Universal Charitable Deduction, which would encourage charitable giving
Of these priorities, the ERLC has made the most significant push aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. At least $700 million in federal funding goes toward Planned Parenthood annually, essentially subsidizing the evil of abortion.
- To encourage Congress to cease this practice, the ERLC has sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee advocating for the committee to include this issue in their list of recommendation budgetary cuts.
- Additionally, the ERLC is championing a statement from leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention calling on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.
How does Planned Parenthood still receive funding from budget reconciliation if the Hyde Amendment is in effect?
The Hyde family of amendments are a series of pro-life provisions in federal appropriations law that ensure federal funding cannot go toward abortion. While this provision should encompass abortion providers, it is commonly interpreted to apply solely to directly funding abortion procedures.
This means an organization like Planned Parenthood can still receive federal funding for other services, such as generic “family planning” services or STD testing, as long as this funding does not directly fund abortion procedures. However, such grants thereby allow the entity to free up other funding for abortions.
How does the Byrd Rule affect budget reconciliation?
The Byrd Rule in the Senate is a federal law limiting any budget reconciliation bill’s scope and content. This rule ensures that Congress only includes provisions in the budget process that directly affect federal spending, revenue, or the public debt limit. If a budget reconciliation bill contains too many policy changes without a genuine impact on the budget, it will violate the Byrd Rule and fail.
In appropriations, language like the Hyde Amendment can simply state “no funds may be used for x, y, z.” However, due to the Byrd Rule, a key challenge in defunding Planned Parenthood is writing legislation that targets the grants abortion providers receive without being considered purely a policy change. Language has been included in past budget reconciliation bills to this end that passed the Byrd Rule, although the bill itself failed for other reasons.
Why should Southern Baptists care about federal budget reconciliation?
At the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, messenger passed a resolution “On Taxpayer Complicity in Abortion and the Hyde Amendment.” Similar to how the ERLC engages with the appropriations process to ensure government funding is not misused to violate the consciences of taxpayers, fund the evil of abortion, and subvert God’s design for marriage and sexuality, Southern Baptists should care about how tax negotiations can protect life, further incentivize God’s design for marriage, and help parents support their children.
Southern Baptists should care about how tax negotiations can protect life, further incentivize God’s design for marriage, and help parents support their children.
The ERLC continues to meet with staff in Washington, D.C., to push forward policies that Southern Baptists support. We encourage you to follow along with our work by subscribing to the Weekly.
*Now is the time to join with thousands of other Southern Baptists to defund Planned Parenthood. Sign here.
