Must pass bill

A must pass bill is a measure, considered vitally important, that must be passed and enacted by the United States Congress (e.g. funding for a function of government). Because of the time-sensitive nature of these bills, they are often amended with policy provisos, or 'riders', unrelated to the principal function of the bill itself.[1] These riders have a good shot at becoming law given the president's lack of line item veto power.

These important measures can also be exploited by the executive branch as was the case with Trump's border wall funding. The President made clear that he would veto any spending bill that didn't include $5.7 billion in border wall funding. The plan backfired when congress failed to come up with the legislation which would have made it past the President. This resulted in a 35-day federal government shutdown between 2018–19. In this case, the policy rider actually became a so-called "poison pill" as the added legislation was so controversial that it killed the chances of the bill passing. [2]

References
  1. "United States Senate Glossary - "must pass" bill". United States Senate. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  2. "Government Shutdown Inevitable As Congress Adjourns Amid Border Wall Funding Impasse". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
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