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Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” continues to run into trouble as it makes its way through the Senate. Over the weekend, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that several key parts of Trump’s tax and spending bill violate the chamber’s rules and recommended they be removed from the final package.
These parts include Senate Republicans’ attempt to make it significantly more difficult — and more expensive — to challenge the Trump administration in court. The provision would have required plaintiffs seeking an emergency court order to pay the federal government a bond, covering all potential costs and damages, before a judge could impose injunctions or restraining orders against the government.
The so-called Byrd bath is likely to continue.
Alicia Bannon, director of the judiciary program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, told The San Francisco Chronicle that such bonds could amount to millions of dollars and make it “financially impossible for ordinary Americans to go to court to protect their rights.”
As Trump continues to test the limits of his executive power, preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders have been used to halt or delay several of his administration’s actions, including the efforts to deport immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, the mass firing of federal employees and the attempt to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students.
In another blow to the bill, McDonough threw out a provision that would have allowed states to carry out border security and immigration enforcement — duties that traditionally have belonged to the federal government.
The latest rulings are part of a series of setbacks for the bill in the Senate. In recent days, the parliamentarian also rejected Republicans’ attempts to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to slash food aid.
Since Republicans are using a budget reconciliation process in an effort to shield the bill from a Democratic filibuster, MacDonough has been tasked with ticking through the 1,000-page proposal to ensure it complies with the Byrd Rule, named for late Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, which bars the inclusion of policy matters unrelated to the budget.
The so-called Byrd bath is likely to continue as Senate leadership rushes to get the bill to the floor before Trump’s July 4 deadline. The expected changes could signal more trouble ahead for the megabill, which passed the House in May by a razor-thin vote and already faced an uphill battle in the Senate.