'Not a good outcome': Senate GOP leaders shut down effort to fire 'woke' Parliamentarian
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference following the U.S. Senate Republicans' weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has been slicing away at Republican additions to President Donald Trump’s Big, Beautiful budget proposal, inlcuding removing proposals to drop abortion coverage from insurance plans.
Thursday, MacDonough ruled against Republican language capping states’ use of health care provider taxes to collect more federal Medicaid funding. States and the federal government jointly fund Medicaid, so when states impose an additional “provider tax” fee on hospitals and health care providers, the federal government must meet that slightly higher bill with a 50 percent match.
MacDonough also recently ruled against a section of the Senate bill revoking Medicare eligibility for some refugees, asylum seekers and people in the country with “temporary protected status.”
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Republicans like Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) are getting furious with MacDonough’s brick wall.
“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,” Tuberville posted on X. “This is a perfect example of why Americans hate the swamp. Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected by the people. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. the senate parliamentarian should be fired ASAP.”
Punchbowl news reporter Andrew Desiderio posted he was finding no inclination among Republican Senate leaders to entertain Tuberville’s demand, however.
“Interestingly, and tellingly, there are no calls yet from Senate R’s (that I’ve seen) to vote to overrule the parliamentarian,” Desiderio posted on X.
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Similarly, Politico reporter Jordain Carney posted Republican leader Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is also not talking about overruling MacDonough, despite parliamentarian roadblocks.
“Thune reiterates to me Senate will not overrule the [parliamentarian] after initial Finance rulings,” Carney posted on X, adding Thune said: “That would not be a good outcome.”
Thune later told reporters his caucus may have moved too fast in their eagerness to fund Trump’s budget and the tax cuts it contains.
“We were obviously trying to get as much in terms of savings as we could. We pushed hard to try and achieve that,” Thune told The Hill.
