Now President Obama's administration is thinking of doing the same thing, although he might expand reconciliation to include two major policy initiatives -- national health-care reform and environmental regulations -- that go well beyond the budget.

CNN: Commentary: Big risks if Obama acts boldly on budget

The unabashed liberal fought for civil rights, environmental causes, farmers, hikes in the minimum wage and health-care reform.

CNN: Wellstone made mark as liberal champion

The charismatic Wellstone, who had multiple sclerosis but was not incapacitated by it, was a champion of health-care coverage expansion, veterans affairs and environmental concerns, and was one of the Senate's most liberal members.

CNN: Wellstone death complicates Senate battle

Its ten-item list of priorities covers everything from grain-procurement prices (up) to the corporate-tax burden imposed by VAT (down), taking in infrastructure, post-earthquake reconstruction, health care, education and environmental protection.

ECONOMIST: China's fiscal stimulus

They chose -- they chose to protect my tax cuts while dramatically raising the out-of-pocket costs of health care to our veterans and while weakening or reversing very important environmental measures that Al Gore and I put into place, everything from clean air to the protection of our forests.

CNN: Clinton: Time again to choose a more perfect union

Oklahoma's new Republican Attorney General Scott Pruitt has bolstered the cause by challenging the tax penalty provisions of the federal health care law, filing suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and joining a multi-state challenge to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

NPR: States' Rights Bills Surge In GOP States