Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) was one of the original authors of the Congressional Budget Process, which contains the extraordinary budget procedure called Reconciliation. Reconciliation was intended to ensure passage of an annual budget and consequently severely limits debate, restricts amendment opportunities and cuts off debate after 20 hours contrary to the regular order and traditions of the Senate. In order to prevent abuse of the Reconciliation procedure, Senator Byrd authored the so-called “Byrd Rule,” to prevent it from being used to ram through major legislation such as healthcare reform outside the Senate’s regular rules.

Here are highlights from a statement Senator Byrd made on April 29, 2009 about the inappropriateness of ramming healthcare reform through the Senate under the extraordinary Reconciliation procedure:

"I cannot, and I will not, vote to authorize the use of the reconciliation process to expedite passage of health care reform legislation or any other legislative proposal that ought to be debated at length by this body.”

"Using reconciliation to ram through complicated, far-reaching legislation is an abuse of the budget process." 

"Whatever abuses of the budget reconciliation process which have occurred in the past, or however many times the process has been twisted to achieve partisan ends does not justify the egregious violation done to the Senate’s Constitutional purpose."

"Under reconciliation’s gag rule there are twenty hours of debate or less if time is yielded back, and little or no opportunity to amend. Those restrictions mean that whatever is nailed into reconciliation by the majority will likely emerge as the final product."

"With critical matters such as a massive revamping of our health care system which will impact the lives of every citizen of our great land, the Senate has a duty to debate and amend and explain in the full light of day, however long that may take, what it is we propose, and why we propose it." 

"We must not run roughshod over minority views. A minority can be right." 

"Ramrodding and railroading have no place when it comes to such matters as our people’s healthcare."