Senate Parliamentarian Flags Portions of Budget Bill as Violating Rules

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled several portions of Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation bill need to be removed because they violate Senate rules for inclusion in such a bill.

Budget reconciliation bills are not subject to the filibuster in the Senate, but matters of policy rather than budget are not allowed in such a bill. The Byrd Rule which imposes this limitation is named for the late Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) who developed it. There are six specific aspects to the rule.

In the Senate, budget reconciliation bills go through a Byrd Bath in which advocates and opponents of elements in the bill put their case to the Senate Parliamentarian who decides what can stay in and what has to be pulled out. Technically, the Parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory, but it is exceedingly rare for the rulings not to be honored.

This bill is about 1000 pages, so the Byrd Bath is arduous, with intense fighting all the way. Democrats have been highly successful in this round so far, thanks in large part to highly capable staff.

Items flagged for removal so far include:

• Disallow restraining orders or injunctions by federal judges unless the plaintiffs have paid the federal government a bond covering all potential costs and damages the government might incur if it loses, which would essentially mean only billionaires could go through courts to stop the government from committing a wrong.
• Allow states to perform border security and immigration enforcement, which has always been in the remit of the federal government.
• Dramatically cut back food aid by pushing costs onto states, notably Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• Completely eliminate the budget for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• Wipe out or gut entities established after the 2008 financial crisis, such as limit the Financial Research Fund which conducts analysis, and cut staffing in and move the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board which oversees accounting firms into the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Change the pay schedule for Federal Reserve employees.
• Repeal portions of the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Repeal emission standards for some light-duty and medium-duty vehicles in model year 2027.
• Terminate civil service protections for federal employees.
• Filing fees for Merit Systems Protection Board claims and appeals.
• Bonuses for cost cutters.
• Charge labor organizations for the use of federal resources.
• Allow the executive branch to gut regulations in a streamlined way that would bypass Congress.
• Allow the executive branch to conduct massive reorganizations, far beyond reductions-in-force in ways that bypass existing laws.
• Create a new rescission or impoundment power for the executive branch that would probably ultimately be ruled unconstitutional in courts.

Trump wants to sign a budget reconciliation bill by 4 July 2025. If Republicans are unwilling to accept the Parliamentarian’s rulings, they might fire her, as they did in 2001, or the chair of the Senate could ignore the rulings. That could then trigger an appeal of the decision of the chair, which requires 60 votes to pass, and the appeal could be appealed, and so on. In essence, Senate rules allow the majority to do what it wants. However, if it is too indelicate about how it handles this, it could essentially destroy the filibuster.

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