There is one unelected, nonpartisan woman standing in the way of Donald Trump’s plans to crack down on immigration and the border.
Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, essentially a referee of the Senate, is responsible for ensuring that lawmakers follow the rules that govern how legislation moves forward. And it's her role that could prove to be the last roadblock before Trump can implement sweeping immigration reforms.
Trump has made it clear he intends to stop the flow of migrants across the border and, with immigration hardliner Tom Homan in the post of “Border Czar,” they plan to strip back protections for migrant minors.
Republicans are considering pushing the aggressive measures through under budget reconciliation – a complex procedure that allows the Senate to end debate and call a vote with the support of a simple majority, which they will have in the Senate, The Hill reports. Many bills need to reach 60 votes in order to be “fillibuster proof.”
MacDonough has been Senate parliamentarian since 2012 and is the first woman to hold the position. She has struck prohibited measures from budget reconciliation bills several times, confounding both Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans are concerned MacDonough could be “problematic” because of a track record of ruling against adding immigration proposals to budget reconciliation bills. If the Republicans talk about trying to change immigration through the budget reconciliation process, she could push to nix those efforts.
“Republicans are already talking about doing three reconciliation measures in the next two years, and one of them will be focused on that, border security,” a GOP strategist told The Hill. “The parliamentarian could be problematic. If you’re starting to push policy legislation into the reconciliation process, that’s a no no.”
The parliamentarian serves as an advisor to the Senate, but is rarely overruled. In fact, the last time was when Vice President Nelson Rockefeller overruled the parliamentarian in 1975, sparking outrage from both sides of the party.
MacDonough kept a relatively low profile until in 2021, when her name hit the headlines after she dashed Democrats’ hopes of passing a $15-an-hour minimum wage increase within their $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.
The parliamentarian ruled that the Covid-19-aid bill couldn’t comply with reconciliation rules if it included the minimum-wage provision.
Democrats were left with a range of options, from redoing the legislation to dropping the wage increase to trying to override MacDonough’s ruling. Some even called for MacDonough to be fired – which the GOP strategist implied could be one option in the upcoming Congress.
“The bottom line is if Republicans really want to be tough, they can ignore the parliamentarian. They can do whatever they want,” the strategist added.
MacDonough is the arbiter of whether the reconciliation bill passes the Byrd Rule – which limits the types of provisions that can be included in bills that deal with the budget.
The rule says provisions in a reconciliation bill cannot result in changes to spending or revenues, raise the deficit past the point of the budget window (usually 10 years) or make changes to social security, the Bipartisan Policy Center explains.
“When we take the majority and we have a new majority leader, does Elizabeth MacDonough remain the parliamentarian? Why not hire a parliamentarian who perhaps might be more favorable to allowing some of these provisions to move past Byrd Rule obstacles,” the GOP aide added.
In 2021, MacDonough ruled against Democrats when they wanted to introduce a number of provisions that would help immigrants into work as part of a $2 trillion social spending bill under budget reconciliation.
Outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell preferred not to overrule the parliamentarian, but his replacement will have the authority to remove MacDonough.
