Republicans no longer need to prove that Democrats are incapable of governing. The Democrats are doing that job for them.

If the Democrats want to pass anything in the Senate with 50 votes over the course of the next year, they have to decide now what they want to use reconciliation for and include that in next year’s budget resolution.

Given the many potential uses for reconciliation, progressives should all pay very close attention to exactly what instructions — if any — are included in the budget. The earlier the effective date and broader the scope, the better. A potential reconciliation bill remains the only hope of any meaningful changes this year. Without reconciliation instructions, it will take the support of Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman and at least one Republican for anything to pass the Senate for the next year.

If there is no budget resolution and Democrats complain about Republicans “blocking” a promise to the progressives base, remember: Democrats chose to give Republican their veto power.

If you want to pass a reconciliation bill in the Senate that can’t be filibustered, to overcome Republican obstructionism, you first need to have reconciliation instructions included in a budget. What reconciliation instructions are included in the budget are critical to passing laws over potentially Republican and conservative Democratic obstructionism, and serves as a clear indication of where the Democratic leadership’s true priorities lay. I will be waiting to see exactly what reconciliation instructions are included in the upcoming budget and what they could be used for. It is something the entire progressive community should be focused on intensely because it will be a good indication of whether Congressional Democrats feel any obligation to fulfill their policy promises.

To bring up a reconciliation bill, Congress must first include reconciliation instructions to deal with a specific issue in a budget resolution. This is why the reconciliation instructions included in the upcoming budget resolution are so important.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) a vote on the public option in the next few months. The public option can’t overcome a filibuster, so its only hope of becoming law is using a reconciliation bill. The only way a reconciliation bill can be used to pass a public option is if Congress first passed a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions that could be used for health care-related matters. If the upcoming budget does not include reconciliation instructions that could be used for health care, then you know Reid and Sanders were just blowing smoke.