There are few things President Donald Trump hates to hear more than “no.” So imagine his outrage when he learned that Senate Republicans’ long-awaited budget bill would no longer include money for his White House ballroom project. The $1 billion in Secret Service funding, including $200 million specifically for the ballroom, had to be removed after a ruling that it failed to comply with Senate rules.
The ruling on the funding didn’t come from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., or any other elected member of Congress. It came from Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian. Trump has demanded that Thune fire MacDonough for standing in his way — but her job isn’t at risk. For the moment, at least, MacDonough may be the most powerful bureaucrat in Washington that Trump can’t touch.
For the moment, at least, MacDonough may be the most powerful bureaucrat in Washington that Trump can’t touch.
After weeks of internal debate, Senate Republicans decided to keep the budget reconciliation bill narrowly focused on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. The money would backfill a gap left in this year’s Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill to appease Democrats opposed to Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown.
Reconciliation bills have the benefit of not being subject to the filibuster or the associated 60-vote threshold. But because of how much reconciliation bills short-circuit the normal legislative process, the Senate has written guidelines into the budget law governing them. In short, anything packed inside must deal with federal spending, adjusting the amount of money the government takes in as revenue or spends as outlays. There are also provisions ensuring that spending bills match up with the instructions in the budget framework that kicks off the reconciliation process, including which committee will be filling in the details the framework leaves blank.
In making sure that nothing in the bill goes against those rules, the bill is presented to the parliamentarian. MacDonough goes through the text with a metaphorical red pen to pick out anything that violates the so-called Byrd rule — named for former senator Robert Byrd — that governs the budget reconciliation process.
In this case, MacDonough ruled that the White House ballroom project funding tucked into the Judiciary Committee’s part of the bill goes beyond the committee’s jurisdiction. If the funding remained in the bill, it could be taken out on the floor via a point of order and would be subject to the 60-vote threshold to be placed back in.
Just because MacDonough ruled out the funding did not mean it was doomed. It’s not unprecedented for provisions to be revised after the parliamentarian’s review and later reincluded in a reconciliation bill. Thune and other Senate GOP leaders initially said they would work to revamp the language to produce something viable — but it wouldn’t be surprising if they didn’t work too hard. The ballroom request put Republicans in a tough spot, placing the onus on them to sign off on a controversial project Trump repeatedly promised wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime. In the end, GOP senators determined it was more important to move forward on immigration enforcement without the ballroom funding.








