Cord Byrd: “Absolutely. I will be glad to do that. I will postpone what I was going to say in response to the chairman's claim that…”

“Absolutely. I will be glad to do that. I will postpone what I was going to say in response to the chairman's claim that this Budget Act can be in conformity with the act's intent and be used to cut taxes. I challenge that. I am ready to do so. I will not do so at the moment. On the other hand, I think I should. Section 310 of the Congressional Budget Act, as enacted in 1974, was arguably neutral in its purpose. The provision merely authorized reconciliation instructions to change laws or bills within a committee's jurisdiction. However, several amendments to the Congressional Budget Act have made it quite clear that the purpose of reconciliation was for deficit reduction. Section 310 of the act was amended by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, to prohibit amendments to reconciliation bills that reduced revenues, if the amendment caused a committee to fail to meet its reconciliation instruction. This prohibition would make no sense if committees could be instructed to reduce net revenues. It only makes sense if a committee could be instructed to increase revenues. Furthermore, the Byrd rule was added as section 313 of the Budget Act. It prohibits as extraneous any provision reported by a committee that reduces revenues if that committee failed to meet its reconciliation instructions.”