🚨 JUST IN: John Thune Says Senate Won’t Overrule Parliamentarian on Medicaid Provision
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that the upper chamber will not overrule the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, after she said that several key MAGA provisions in the GOP’s flagship spending bill, including one on Medicaid, do not pass muster.
MacDonough infuriated Senate Republicans earlier Thursday when she said their plan to change how states tax Medicaid providers doesn’t abide by the rules that would allow the Senate to pass the domestic policy bill with a simple majority, meaning it could fall prey to a Democratic filibuster. MacDonough found that other provisions in the bill related to taxes, student aid, Medicare, and more had the same issue.
Thune told Politico on Thursday the Senate won’t move to overrule MacDonough despite Republicans’ dissatisfaction with her rulings.
“No, that would not be a good option for getting a bill done,” the South Dakota Republican told Politico.
Politico reported that Republicans plan to rewrite the provisions MacDonough flagged in the hopes that she will green-light them. If she does, that means the bill is compliant with the “Byrd Rule,” which governs the budget reconciliation process, and can be passed with a simple majority vote.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas told Fox News that MacDonough should be axed as parliamentarian after her rulings: “In 2001, Majority Leader Trent Lott fired the Senate parliamentarian during reconciliation. It’s 2025 during reconciliation, and we need to again fire the Senate parliamentarian.”
Republican Representative Greg Steube of Florida wrote on X: “How is it that an unelected swamp bureaucrat, who was appointed by Harry Reid over a decade ago, gets to decide what can and cannot go in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill?”
Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who is running to be governor of the state, wrote on X: “The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP.”
