<P> The reconciliation process arose from the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 . Over time, it has developed into a procedure for implementing some policy decisions and assumptions embraced in a budget resolution in a way that was unforeseen when the Budget Act was enacted . Under the original design of the Budget Act, reconciliation had a fairly narrow purpose: it was expected to be used together with the second budget resolution adopted in the fall, was to apply to a single fiscal year, and be directed primarily at spending and revenue legislation acted on between the adoption of the first and second budget resolutions . </P> <P> Although reconciliation was originally understood to be for the purpose of either reducing deficits or increasing surpluses, the language of the 1974 act refers only to "changes" in revenue and spending amounts, not specifically to increases or decreases . Per former Parliamentarian of the Senate Robert Dove: </P> <P> (Reconciliation) was never used for that purpose . But in 1975, just a year after it had passed, a very canny Senate committee chairman, Russell Long of Louisiana, came into the Parliamentarian's Office, and he kept having trouble with his tax bills because of the Senate rules . People were offering amendments to them that he didn't like . They were debating them at length, and he didn't like that . And he saw in the Budget Act a way of getting around those pesky little problems . And he convinced the Parliamentarian at the time--I was the assistant--that the very first use of reconciliation should be to protect his tax cut bill . </P> <P> Congress has used the procedure to enact omnibus budget bills, first in 1980 . Between 1980 and 2009, 17 of 23 reconciliation bills have been signed into law by Republican presidents (a Republican was president for 20 of those 29 years). Since 1980, reconciliation has been used nine times when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate, six times when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, one time when the Democrats controlled the Senate and the Republicans the House, and seven times when the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats controlled the House . Reconciliation has been used at least once nominally for a non-budgetary purpose (for example, see the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, when a Republican was president and the Democrats controlled Congress). The 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) contained some health care provisions . </P>

How many votes are needed to pass a budget in the senate