On the heels of President Trump’s massive success enacting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and as Republicans are touting the its victories at events across their districts, Congress is already turning its attention to a potential second reconciliation plan.
But why should Congress even contemplate a second reconciliation bill? And can they even do that?
To answer the first question, Congress should take advantage of this opportunity to advance a clear set of deficit-reducing, economy-boosting policy goals that would otherwise be unlikely to become law.
Reconciliation 2.0 isn’t needed because the first one failed. On the contrary, it succeeded and is a solid foundation to build upon. It managed to address some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation in a single bill.
Reconciliation 2.0 isn’t needed because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is unpopular. Recent polling by our organization reveals that it advances the highest priorities of the American public. Preventing a massive tax hike on working families and imposing reasonable welfare reform measures have widespread support.
Reconciliation 2.0 isn’t needed because it’s easy. In fact, one of the main reasons Congress should draft a second reconciliation bill is that some good policies that may not have been ready for the first bill can become ready in time for Reconciliation 2.0. Having time to work through legislative text complications to ensure provisions can pass the Byrd Rule is one of the primary reasons to move on another reconciliation bill.
There are two other major reasons: protecting life and fulfilling the fiscal framework.
One of the biggest wins from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was a moratorium on taxpayer funding of big, on demand abortion providers. But it was only a one-year moratorium, expiring next July 5. A second reconciliation bill is almost certainly necessary for Congress to extend this policy, as it would otherwise be blocked by a Senate filibuster.
Additionally, this is an opportunity to build on deficit reduction efforts by fulfilling the promise of the fiscal framework agreed to in the budget resolution. This essentially required any tax reductions in excess of $2.5 trillion be offset on a dollar-for-dollar basis by savings produced elsewhere in the bill. Unfortunately, although the first bill did include substantial savings, the final Senate version enacted into law failed to meet the fiscal framework set up by the House. Reconciliation 2.0 presents a major opportunity to rectify this with additional deficit reduction.
This is a second opportunity to push forward tangible wins for the American people and realign government spending with taxpayers’ priorities while reducing the federal deficit. Engaging in this moment is imperative.
The policy agenda for Reconciliation 2.0 should cover four main areas: Supporting DOGE and codifying the Trump agenda, protecting human life and American values, making America healthy through additional Medicaid improvements, and reducing the cost of living and creating American jobs.
At EPIC, we have put together a list of policy options to achieve these four goals while reducing the deficit by the $600 billion shortfall between the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and meeting the fiscal framework.
To answer the second question — whether Congress can even technically do two reconciliation bills in the same year — the answer is yes.
Reconciliation is a powerful fast-track process that can make changes in the budget while bypassing the Senate filibuster. First and foremost, reconciliation is a budget process that must be unlocked by the inclusion of special instructions in the budget resolution to bring autopilot spending and revenues in line with the budget resolution itself. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act originated from the fiscal 2025 budget resolution. Congress will have two more bites at the apple with the fiscal year 2026 and 2027 budget resolutions.
Congress should be aggressive in pursuing Reconciliation 2.0 and draft the next budget resolution with those policy end goals in mind.
Now is not the time to lose the momentum of the first reconciliation bill. It’s the time to build on it.
Brittany A. Madni is the executive vice president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center.
