The GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act has moved to the Senate to be considered for debate and possible revision. While President Donald Trump’s tax and spending plan passed in the House, different rules in the Senate may end up stripping out certain proposals.

The Senate has a rule for so-called reconciliation bills known as the Byrd rule, which limits the budget-based bill from meandering too far outside a fiscal pathway. There has also been concern about whether some items increase the deficit past the bill’s fiscal window in 2034, which could be a violation of the Byrd rule. 

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What is the Byrd Rule?

The Byrd rule, named after former West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, has been in place since the 1980s in order to limit irrelevant provisions within budget bills known as reconciliation bills. Due to the expedited manner in which reconciliation bills are passed, with a simple majority rather than the 60-vote threshold, the Byrd rule is in place to avoid items considered extraneous from being passed. 

Some limitations based on the Byrd rule are if a policy item doesn’t have an impact on spending or revenue, or if the item will continue to increase the federal deficit outside the bill’s fiscal window. One Byrd rule test that sparks plenty of debate is whether a provision would have a “merely incidental” budgetary effect and therefore may not be included, according to Joshua Huder, senior fellow at the Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute.

“[This rule] requires the parliamentarian to interpret what is incidental and what is not,” Huder told the Washington Examiner.

The limitations the rule creates on reconciliation bills are substantial, explained Huder, who said it can kill a provision or an entire bill itself.

“It will strip provisions renaming buildings or policies, changes to regulations with little or no budgetary effect, and other portions of the House-passed bill that fail to change spending or tax policy. It is an important guardrail in the Senate’s consideration of the bill,” Huder said in the email.

Why is it important to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?

Opponents of the bill can raise Byrd Rule challenges to be reviewed by the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan appointee who interprets the rules of the Senate and its procedure.

Legislation has gone through this process of questioning before. The 2021 Biden administration attempt at increasing the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2025 was struck down using the Byrd rule because the impact on federal spending would be “merely incidental” compared to the non-budgetary aftermath of the major policy change.

The “Build Back Better Act’s” provision for undocumented immigrants granting them parole status was also struck down in 2021 because it was not deemed “budgetary in nature,” according to the American Action Forum.

There have already been run-ins between Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who makes calls regarding the Byrd rule.

In May, Thune ignored a judgment by MacDonough supporting the Governmental Accountability Office’s finding that repealing California emissions standards was not within the Senate’s parameters. 

If MacDonough rules that a provision must be removed for a Byrd rule violation, the Senate could override her with a bare majority. Republicans control 53 seats in the upper chamber, but many, including Thune, have been reluctant to challenge her directly.

Provisions of the bill that could be subject to the Byrd bath

The version of the legislation that passed in the House includes some sections that are more policy-based than fiscal, or that produce a fiscal end with a policy-focused means. If the bill is changed and passed in the Senate, it will be sent back to the House for the updated version to be voted on.

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With a three-seat majority in both the House and Senate, the loss of any one provision has the potential to throw off the vote count for Republicans. Below are provisions likely to be subject to Byrd rule challenges, sometimes referred to as going through a “Byrd bath.”