President Trump urged Senate Republicans on Sunday to overrule the chamber’s parliamentarian in order to pass key parts of his sweeping domestic policy bill.
In a Sunday post on Truth Social, the president backed a call from Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and other GOP hard-liners to ignore rulings from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough.
“Great Congressman Greg Steube is 100% correct. An unelected Senate Staffer (Parliamentarian), should not be allowed to hurt the Republicans Bill. Wants many fantastic things out. NO! DJT,” Trump wrote.
The parliamentarian is the nonpartisan Senate official responsible for determining whether parts of laws meant to be passed through budget reconciliation comply with the rules for that process.
Budget reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with simple majorities, thereby averting the filibuster. But those provisions must follow specific instructions passed through a budget resolution and not expand the deficit past the window laid out in the bill.
Hardline conservatives were fuming following MacDonough’s decision on Thursday to reject key Medicaid cuts in the Senate version of Trump’s major policy bill, and an increasing number of Republicans in both chambers have upped the pressure on their colleagues to challenge the referee’s ruling on the floor.
“How is it that an unelected swamp bureaucrat, who was appointed by [former Sen.] Harry Reid [D-Nev.] over a decade ago, gets to decide what can and cannot go in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill?” Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) wrote on social platform X.
“The Senate Parliamentarian is not elected. She is not accountable to the American people. Yet she holds veto power over legislation supported by millions of voters,” he added.
Overturning the parliamentarian would require support from at least 51 senators on the floor. The senator presiding over the chamber, known as the chair, could issue a ruling that contrasts with the parliamentarian’s decision, which would have to be sustained with 51 votes to move forward.
Senators in both parties have called for the parliamentarian to be overruled in recent years. In 2022, Democrats tried to overrule the parliamentarian when they were working to pass their marquee bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
MacDonough was first appointed Senate parliamentarian in 2012, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) elevated her to the position.
The Senate narrowly advanced the bill on Saturday night after rewriting some key sections to address MacDonough’s concerns, clearing a key hurdle before final passage.
Senate Democrats have also pushed their Republican colleagues to get a meeting with the Senate parliamentarian to decide the crucial procedural question of whether extending Trump’s expiring 2017 tax cuts adds to future federal deficits.
Democrats say Republicans have “flat-out refused” to engage in discussions, The Hill reported.
The partisan battle over how to “score” the budgetary impact of making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent could determine whether Senate Republicans would need to rewrite the sprawling 940-page bill on the Senate floor.
Democrats must decide whether to force Republicans to obtain a parliamentarian ruling on the Senate floor Monday on whether making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent would violate Senate rules. An adverse ruling on the issue could derail the bill, but Republicans are confident that won’t happen.
Updated at 5:42 p.m. EDT