Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, a Harry Reid appointee with a selective interpretation of how the Byrd Rule can be applied to reconciliation bills, has been doing the bidding of the Democrats in ruling that major provisions of President Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” are subject to the Byrd Rule and therefore are ineligible to be part of a reconciliation bill. That means that, according to MacDonough, those provisions have to go through the normal Senate process and need 60 votes for passage instead of a simple majority.

🚨 BREAKING: Harry Reid appointee and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is STRIKING DOWN MASSIVE portions of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, requiring them to obtain 60 votes in the Senate instead of 50+1.

This INCLUDES:
– Defunding sanctuary cities
– Reining in activist… pic.twitter.com/4z1HHgSM53

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 23, 2025

Daugherty wrote:

This INCLUDES:

– Defunding sanctuary cities

– Reining in activist judges

– DEFUNDING the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a huge target of DOGE

– Rolling back the EV mandate

– Allowing states to conduct border security and immigration enforcement

As Daugherty points out, MacDonough was appointed by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2012. Current Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) can fire her and appoint a parliamentarian of his own choosing, which might be the only way to get around MacDonough’s ruling since Republicans don’t have 60 votes to override it. Vice President JD Vance, in his role as presiding officer of the Senate, can choose to ignore MacDonough’s ruling, which would undoubtedly drive Democrat rage to new heights. However, back in 2021 California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna urged then-Vice President Kamala Harris to do just that over the $15 minimum wage provision in the American Rescue Act, which was also a reconciliation bill:

“I’m sorry—an unelected parliamentarian does not get to deprive 32 million Americans the raise they deserve. This is an advisory, not a ruling. VP Harris needs to disregard and rule a $15 minimum wage in order.”

32 million Americans are being denied a raise by an unelected parliamentarian. We must get this included in reconciliation. pic.twitter.com/5sEpCGcPri

— Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) February 26, 2021

In addition to the provisions mentioned above, MacDonough has invalidated other provisions of the bill:

MacDonough’s rulings have invalidated a number of headline-grabbing GOP provisions, including a plan requiring states to pay a portion of food benefits—the largest spending cut for SNAP in the bill. 

. . . 

MacDonough also rejected language in the bill drafted by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that would have exempted certain infrastructure projects from judicial review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Who needs activist judges when you’ve got the Senate Parliamentarian?