Budget director Peter Orszag made clear on Tuesday that the administration still won't rule out the use of reconciliation to pass legislation, should Republicans in the Senate try to filibuster health care reform or any other major initiatives.
Reconciliaton, for those not familiar with the term, is the process for deliberating the budget in the Senate. Time and amendments are limited, which means filibusters won't work. Instead of sixty votes, the requirement for overcoming a filibuster, legislation can pass with just fifty.
And here's what Orszag said about the use of reconciliation, during a luncheon sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor: "We'd like to avoid it if possible. But we're not taking it off the table."
--Jonathan Cohn