Nancy Pelosi: Georgia Senate Victories Would Give Democrats Supermajority-Like Ability to Pass Legislation

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said during a virtual Sojourner Truth Project event last week that ousting Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) will give them significant power to pass legislation because they can pass bills with a simple majority in the Senate using reconciliation.

Pelosi spoke virtually at the Sojourner Truth Project on December 22 via Zoom. During the event, she discussed how Georgia Senate Democrat candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock’s potential victories would give Democrats significant power to pass legislation in Congress. She compared their Democrats’ potential power to having essentially 60 votes in the Senate.

“One more thing, because you know how I’m about numbers, when we win these two seats, plus Kamala Harris breaking the tie, it’ll be like getting 60 votes because once we have even the simple majority, we can vote for reconciliation, which means that you only need 51 votes to pass certain legislation,” Pelosi said.

The Senate typically needs 60 votes to pass legislation through the chamber; however, some bills in the Senate can pass with a simple majority through budgetary reconciliation. Reconciliation allows Congress to pass bills affecting spending, revenue, or deficit levels.

Republicans used reconciliation to pass the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and they tried to use reconciliation during their failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Democrats could use reconciliation to pass bills at a similar scale the tax cuts bill or the ACA repeal bills.

Pelosi noted that having Ossoff and Warnock win in January would make Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), the vice president-elect, the Senate’s tiebreaking vote. This would allow for congressional Democrats to pass leftist legislation through Congress with only a simple majority.

For instance, Pelosi has pledged to hold a vote in the House during the next congressional term to repeal the Hyde Amendment.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) told Breitbart News in December that repealing the Hyde Amendment would result in American taxpayers funding abortions. Banks said the Hyde Amendment is the “first issue on the chopping block” if Democrats gain control of the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have noted that gaining control of the Senate majority would enable Democrats’ leftist agenda.

“Now we take Georgia, then we change America,” Schumer has said.

Ocasio-Cortez said that Democrats need to win in Georgia “to make sure that we don’t have a Republican Senate majority, that we win these races in Georgia, that we secure a Democratic Senate majority so that we don’t have to negotiate.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.