The Byrd-Bath Has Begun— Parliamentarian Cuts Out Pieces Of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill... More To Come

More Came Last Night... More Good News For The Country

The Democrats are planning to challenge around 60 in Señor TACO’s one big ugly bill. The first provisions brought to Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough were the part of the bill drafted by Republicans on the Banking, Environment and Public Works and Armed Services committees. It didn’t go well— for them; it went great for America though. She ruled that several provisions must be removed from the bill if the GOP wants it to proceed as a reconciliation package, making it immune to a Democratic filibuster and passable by a simple majority.

The Banking Committee Republicans’ proposals to entirely defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, slash some Federal Reserve employees’ pay, cut Treasury’s Office of Financial Research and dissolve the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are all ineligible to be included. The Banking Committee, which was tasked with cutting a billion dollars, has to start all over again now.

Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) kept up a brave face but was obviously crestfallen. Meanwhile, ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, Jeff Merkley (OR) was already touting the rulings. “The Senate Parliamentarian advised that certain provisions in the Republicans’ One Big, Beautiful Betrayal will be subject to the Byrd Rule– ultimately meaning they will need to be stripped from the bill to ensure it complies with the rules of reconciliation. As much as Senate Republicans would prefer to throw out the rule book and advance their families-lose-and-billionaires-win agenda, there are rules that must be followed and Democrats are making sure those rules are enforced.” 

Trump will almost surely try to make Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) opt to override the parliamentarian’s rulings with a simple majority vote on the floor, establishing a new Senate precedent, but Thune is saying he doesn’t plan to do that. I doubt he can stand up to Trump if Trump goes nuts on him. We shall see.

The parliamentarian ruled several sections of the bill under the jurisdiction of the Environment and Public Works Committee also violated the Byrd Rule.

She ruled against the repeal of funding authorizations in the Inflation Reduction Act and the repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s multi-pollutant emissions standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2027 and later.

She also ruled against a provision under the Armed Services panel’s jurisdiction that would reduce appropriations to the Department of Defense if spending plans are not submitted on time.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, applauded the parliamentarian’s rulings on the issues under her committee’s jurisdiction.  

“These proposals are a reckless, dangerous attack on consumers and would lead to more Americans being tricked and trapped by giant financial institutions and put the stability of our entire financial system at risk,” she said.

“Democrats fought back, and we will keep fighting back against this ugly bill,” she said.

Warren’s Banking staff submitted in-depth written briefs to the parliamentarian in advance of her ruling.

This morning, Grace Yarrow reported more bad news for the Senate Republicans. Their plan to force state governments to pay for food stamps to help pay for tax cuts for billionaires was shit-canned by the parliamentarian last night. “That means Republicans will need to head back to the drawing board after months of heated debate about how to slash spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “The cost-sharing plan, which was first put forward by House Republicans, sparked backlash from state officials and concerns within the caucus. The bill would make states pay for SNAP benefits for the first time using a sliding scale based on their payment error rates. The Senate Agriculture Committee introduced a scaled-back version of the House GOP’s cost-sharing plan earlier this month. Without it, Senate Republicans will struggle to find enough cuts to pay for their policy priorities and the $67 billion farm bill package they included— all with an ambitious timeline of delivering the megabill to Trump’s desk by July 4… MacDonough also struck measures that would remove SNAP eligibility for immigrants who are not lawful permanent residents and extend a farm bill provision that allows federal officials to update farm payment programs.”