Budget Reconciliation - You Need 60 Votes to Overcome a Filibuster

Democrats did not have a super majority in the senate, so they simply couldn't pass laws over republican filibusters. To get around the filabuster, you have to use a process called budget reconciliation. The trick is that budget reconciliation bills originally were designed to reconcile the budget. Only thing that can get through the reconciliation process are measures that affect revenue,. That raise revenue or spend revenue, basically taxing spending.