RECONCILIATION AND THE FISCAL CONSTITUTION - THE ANATOMY OF THE 1995-96 BUDGET TRAIN WRECK

Congress originally conceived of the budget reconciliation process as a minor fallback mechanism for bringing one year's tax and spending po licy in line with overall budget targets. Reconciliation has since bec ome central to congressional efforts to reduce the federal budget defi cit. This Note argues, however; that reconciliation is limited in its capacity to impel significant budgetary reform. The author demonstrate s how, in 1995-96, reconciliation caused repeated breakdowns in govern mental budget-making, undermining the entire budget process. The autho r concludes that the legal, institutional, and political constraints i nherent in the reconciliation process will continue to constitute powe rful obstacles to congressional efforts to implement sweeping national reform via the annual budget.