(LibertySociety.com) – Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough just dealt a devastating blow to Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” forcing Republicans to scramble for Democratic votes or abandon key conservative priorities entirely.
Key Takeaways
- The Senate Parliamentarian ruled numerous provisions in Trump’s signature bill violate the Byrd Rule, requiring 60 votes instead of a simple majority.
- Major conservative priorities now in jeopardy include federal workforce reforms, SNAP cost-sharing, regulatory limits, and immigration enforcement measures.
- Republicans with only 53 Senate seats must now either abandon these provisions or convince 7 Democrats to support them.
- The ruling threatens Trump’s July 4th deadline for passage and exposes growing rifts within the GOP over Medicaid cuts and SALT deduction caps.
- Some provisions survived the Parliamentarian’s scrutiny, including SNAP work requirements and a pause on state-level AI regulations.
Parliamentarian’s Ruling Guts Key Conservative Priorities
In a devastating blow to Republican legislative strategy, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled that significant portions of President Trump’s signature “Big, Beautiful Bill” violate the Senate’s Byrd Rule. This procedural decision means numerous conservative priorities that Republicans hoped to pass with a simple majority will now require 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster. The ruling specifically targets provisions related to federal workers, regulatory reforms, and immigration enforcement—cornerstones of Trump’s agenda that he promised would be swiftly implemented upon his return to office.
Among the casualties are measures that would have increased retirement contributions for future federal hires while simultaneously stripping civil service protections, effectively undermining the power of federal employee unions. The parliamentarian determined these workforce provisions have only “incidental” budgetary impacts, failing to meet the strict requirements for reconciliation bills that can bypass the filibuster. This ruling alone protects hundreds of thousands of federal workers from what critics called an unprecedented assault on the civil service system.
Republicans Face Difficult Math and Timeline Pressure
With only 53 Republicans in the Senate, the GOP now faces a nearly impossible task of finding seven Democratic votes to pass the struck-down provisions. Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s team is frantically retooling the bill to comply with parliamentary rules, but the clock is ticking on President Trump’s self-imposed July 4th deadline. The ruling has exposed growing rifts within the Republican caucus over other controversial measures still in the bill, including proposed Medicaid cuts and caps on state and local tax deductions that divide moderates and conservatives.
The procedural setback couldn’t come at a worse time for Republicans, who had hoped to deliver a quick legislative victory for Trump to demonstrate their unified control of government. Instead, the parliamentarian’s ruling has effectively forced the GOP to choose between abandoning key promises to their base or engaging in protracted negotiations with Democrats who have little incentive to cooperate. This development vindicates conservative critics who warned that trying to pass such sweeping legislation through reconciliation was legally dubious.
Surviving Provisions Offer Limited Consolation
Not all provisions in the massive legislative package were struck down. The parliamentarian allowed several significant conservative priorities to remain eligible for simple-majority passage, including new work requirements for able-bodied SNAP recipients under 65 years old. Also surviving the “Byrd bath” was a controversial provision that would temporarily block states from implementing their own AI regulations, a win for tech companies seeking to avoid a patchwork of state laws. Senator Josh Hawley’s initiative to compensate radiation victims also cleared the procedural hurdle.
These surviving elements, however, represent only a fraction of what Trump and congressional Republicans promised voters. The parliamentarian specifically rejected provisions that would have shifted SNAP costs to states, repealed EPA emissions rules, implemented the REINS Act to give Congress more control over regulations, and restricted funding for sanctuary cities. Each of these measures was central to the conservative agenda of reducing federal power and cracking down on illegal immigration.
Democrats Celebrate While Republicans Regroup
Democrats are quietly celebrating the parliamentarian’s ruling as a major victory that preserves the Senate’s traditional role as a deliberative body requiring bipartisan cooperation for major policy changes. The ruling effectively prevents Republicans from using budget reconciliation as a vehicle for sweeping policy changes that have little to do with federal spending. For federal employees in particular, the decision offers a reprieve from what would have been the most significant rollback of worker protections in decades.
“The Senate parliamentarian’s ruling confirms what we’ve been saying all along – this bill was never about fiscal responsibility but about ramming through a radical agenda that would devastate federal workers and undermine critical regulatory protections,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement following the announcement.
Republican leadership is now faced with difficult choices about how to proceed. They could attempt to overrule the parliamentarian, a nuclear option that would fundamentally alter Senate procedures but would require unanimous GOP support. Alternatively, they could strip out the offending provisions and pass a slimmed-down version of the bill, disappointing their base but securing at least some legislative wins. The most likely path forward appears to be a significant revision of the bill followed by a “vote-a-rama” process in which senators can offer amendments before final passage.
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