The Senate parliamentarian could block some of Trump's agenda — and be a scapegoat for Republicans

As Republicans make plans for how to get President-elect Donald Trump’s one “big beautiful bill” through Congress, both the political and procedural challenges of enacting an agenda through budget reconciliation are coming into focus. “Senate parliamentarians are put in an impossible position because ‘merely incidental’ is inherently a judgment call.” The current Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled in 2021 that a provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour couldn’t be passed via reconciliation, despite the fact that such a change would have dramatic effects on the federal budget. “I don't think the Republicans really want to start this Congress breaking well-pedigreed rules, but maybe they do.” We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism Though it has never happened before, there is in practical terms nothing stopping the presiding officer of the Senate from ignoring the recommendations of the parliamentarian, or preventing a majority of senators from voting to overturn a parliamentarian’s ruling. Tillman said that while there may not be a legal cost to breaking precedent in the Senate, there may be a political cost in that “it makes them look like people that don’t follow rules.” At the same time, he noted, there could be a benefit to a dogged pursuit of policy goals, especially because “some people don’t think these rules are binding anyways.” Also, while simply ignoring the parliamentarian would be a dramatic step, Republicans have ousted a parliamentarian before, most recently after former parliamentarian Robert Dove issued a series of rulings that obstructed portions of former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts in 2001.