By Maeve Sheehey and Lillianna Byington
For Republicans racing to pass President Donald Trump’s mega-bill, the devil is in the procedural details.
After passing in the US House of Representatives, Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending package is under negotiation in the Senate. With a slim majority in both chambers, Republicans can only pass the legislation through a process called reconciliation, which limits the components of a legislative package to those related to the federal budget.
A Senate official called the parliamentarian is responsible for determining whether components of a bill comply with those rules. The current officeholder, Elizabeth MacDonough, has ruled that a series of provisions in the tax bill – including a change to how Medicaid providers are taxed that’s crucial to offsetting some of the cost of the bill – fail to meet the standard. Her decisions have complicated Republicans’ efforts to pass the bill on an unusually accelerated timeline.
Republicans are divided on whether to ignore the parliamentarian – a decision with historical precedent, but one senators may be reluctant to take. Here’s what to know.
What does the Senate parliamentarian do?
The Office of the Senate Parliamentarian was established in 1935, according to the Congressional Research Service. The parliamentarian — a nonpartisan role — serves at the discretion of the majority leader. He or she gives non-binding guidance on whether motions and provisions of bills before the Senate comply with the chamber’s rules.
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
