T his report identifies and briefly summarizes the 21 budget reconciliation measures enacted into law during the period covering 1980, when reconciliation procedures were first used by both chambers, through 2017. The budget reconciliation process is an optional procedure that operates as an adjunct to the budget resolution process established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. The chief purpose of the reconciliation process is to enhance Congress's ability to change current law in order to bring revenue, spending, and debt-limit levels into conformity with the policies of the annual budget resolution. Reconciliation is a two-stage process. First, reconciliation directives are included in the budget resolution, instructing the appropriate committees to develop legislation achieving the desired budgetary outcomes. Reconciliation directives instruct specified committees to develop legislation changing existing law in order to alter revenue, spending, or debt-limit levels to conform with budget resolution policies. Over the years, compliance with reconciliation directives has been determined on the basis of the net revenue or spending effects of all changes in the legislation. A particular reconciliation measure, therefore, may have included changes that raised spending as well as changes that reduced spending, changes that raised revenue as well as changes that reduced revenue, or both, and still adhered to the overall budgetary goals. If the budget resolution instructs more than one committee in a chamber, then the instructed committees submit their legislative recommendations to their respective Budget Committees by the deadline prescribed in the budget resolution; the Budget Committees incorporate them into an omnibus budget reconciliation bill without making any substantive revisions. In cases where only one committee has been instructed, the process allows that committee to report its reconciliation legislation directly to its parent chamber, thus bypassing the Budget Committee. The second step involves consideration of the resultant reconciliation legislation by the House and Senate under expedited procedures. Among other things, debate in the Senate on any reconciliation measure is limited to 20 hours (and 10 hours on a conference report) and amendments must be germane and not include extraneous matter. The House Rules Committee typically recommends a special rule for the consideration of a reconciliation measure in the House that places restrictions on debate time and the offering of amendments. If the House and Senate do not reach final agreement on a budget resolution, then the reconciliation process is not triggered. As an optional procedure, reconciliation has not been used in every year that the congressional budget process has been in effect. Reconciliation was not used during the first several years of the congressional budget process and, more recently, was not used in years immediately following successful action on a budget summit agreement. In 1990, for example, the George H. W. Bush Administration successfully negotiated a budget summit agreement with Congress that was reflected in the FY1991 budget resolution. Pursuant to reconciliation directives in that resolution, Congress and the President enacted the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. Reconciliation was not used in the following two years, involving budget resolutions for FY1992 and FY1993. In nine years, 1998 (for FY1999), 2002 (for FY2003), 2004 (for FY2005), 2006 (for FY2007), 2011-2014 (for FY2012-2015), and 2016 (for FY2017), the House and Senate did not agree on a budget resolution. Beginning with the first use of reconciliation by both the House and Senate in 1980, reconciliation has been used in a majority of years. Congress has sent the President 25 reconciliation acts over the years: 21 were signed into law, President Clinton vetoed three, and President Obama vetoed one (and the vetoes were not overridden). The 25 reconciliation measures sent to the President are shown in Table 1 . Reconciliation practices in the House and Senate vary and change over time. In earlier years, spending and revenue changes were incorporated into a single measure. In the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980, for example, about $8 billion in deficit reduction for FY1981 was split fairly evenly between spending reductions and revenue increases. In more recent years, revenue and spending changes have often been segregated into separate reconciliation measures. For the FY2006 budget cycle, for example, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 was a spending reconciliation bill, and the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 was a revenue reconciliation bill. Most recently, however, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 included significant changes in both spending and revenues. Reconciliation directives in a single budget resolution sometimes lead to more than one reconciliation measure, as indicated above for the FY2006 budget cycle. Multiple reconciliation measures also were considered in calendar years 1982 and 1997. Finally, the consideration of reconciliation measures sometimes extends into a succeeding year. Action on reconciliation measures initiated in 1983, 1985, and 2005 was not completed until the following year. Although in these instances legislative action spilled over into the following year, the initial year was retained in the titles of the acts (e.g., the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 was enacted in 2006). In the FY2010 budget cycle, the budget resolution containing reconciliation directives was adopted in 2009 but the reconciliation legislation was not considered until 2010. A brief description of each of the 21 reconciliation measures enacted into law is provided in the Appendix . The laws are presented in chronological order. For each reconciliation law listed in the Appendix , some of the major subject areas affected by the revenue or spending changes are identified, but no determination is made as to whether the specific changes involved increases or decreases. The subject areas identified range from fairly specific (e.g., Nuclear Regulatory Commission fees) to quite broad (e.g., Medicare), with broad subject areas sometimes encompassing dozens or hundreds of separate provisions. Some of the reconciliation measures included in the listing were very lengthy and complicated, involving the legislative proposals of many different House and Senate committees. Accordingly, the subject areas identified in the listing should be regarded as illustrative and not comprehensive. The source from which the summary information was drawn is indicated for each law by a bracketed reference at the end of the summary. 1.Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980 P.L. 96-499 (December 5, 1980) This act, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, was the first reconciliation bill to pass the House and Senate. It was estimated to reduce the FY1981 deficit by $8.276 billion, including $4.631 billion in outlay reductions and $3.645 billion in revenue increases. Major spending changes affected such areas as child nutrition subsidies; interest rates for student loans; "look back" cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) benefit provisions for retiring federal employees; highway obligational authority; railroad rehabilitation, airport development, planning, and noise control grants; veterans' burial allowances; disaster loans; Medicare and Medicaid; unemployment compensation; and Social Security. Major revenue changes affected such areas as mortgage subsidy bonds; payment of estimated corporate taxes; capital gains on foreign real estate investments; payroll taxes paid by employers; telephone excise taxes; and the alcohol import duty. [1980 Congressional Quarterly Almanac, pp. 124-130] 2.Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 P.L. 97-35 (August 13, 1981) President Ronald Reagan used this act, along with a nonreconciliation bill, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 ( P.L. 97-34 ), to advance much of his agenda in his first year in office. This act was estimated to reduce the deficit by $130.6 billion over three years, covering FY1982-FY1984. Major spending changes affected such areas as health program block grants; Medicaid; television and radio licenses; Food Stamps; dairy price supports; energy assistance; Conrail; education program block grants; Impact Aid and the Title I compensatory education program for disadvantaged children; student loans; and the Social Security minimum benefit. [1981 Congressional Quarterly Almanac, pp. 256-266] 3.Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 P.L. 97-248 (September 3, 1982) This act, one of two reconciliation measures signed by President Reagan in 1982, was estimated to increase revenues by $98.3 billion and reduce outlays by $17.5 billion over three years, covering FY1983-FY1985. Major spending changes affected such areas as Medicare, Medicaid, aid to families with dependent children (AFDC), child support enforcement (CSE), supplemental security income (SSI), unemployment compensation, and interest payments on U.S. savings bonds. Major revenue changes affected such areas as the alternative minimum tax, medical and casualty deductions, pension contribution deductions, federal employee payment of the FICA tax for Medicare coverage, accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits, corporate tax payments, foreign oil and gas income, corporate tax preferences, construction deductions, insurance tax breaks, "safe-harbor leasing," corporate mergers, withholding on interest and dividends, aviation excise taxes, unemployment insurance, telephone and cigarette excise taxes, and industrial development bonds. [1982 Congressional Quarterly Almanac, pp. 29-39 and 199-204] 4.Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1982 P.L. 97-253 (September 8, 1982) This act, the second of two reconciliation measures signed by President Reagan in 1982, was estimated to reduce outlays by $13.3 billion over three years, covering FY1983-FY1985. Major spending changes affected such areas as payments to farmers, dairy price supports, Food Stamps, inflation adjustments for federal retirees, lump-sum premiums for Federal Housing Administration housing insurance, user fees on Veterans Administration-backed home loans, veterans' compensation and benefits, and reduction in the membership of the Federal Communications Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission. [1982 Congressional Quarterly Almanac, pp. 199-204] 5.Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1983 P.L. 98-270 (April 18, 1984) Initial consideration of this act occurred in 1983, but final action did not occur until 1984.