US: Senate Parliamentarian Strikes Key Items From OBBB, Setback For GOP

The Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, has ruled that several key pieces of the GOP’s 'One Big Beautiful Bill' fail to conform to the rules of Budget Reconciliation.

• Per an announcement from Senate Budget Democrats, MacDonough judged that a funding cap on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that would have cut USD$6.4 billion from the agency should be removed.
• She also “ruled against language cutting $1.4 billion in costs by reducing the pay of Federal Reserve staff, cutting $293 million by reducing the Office of Financial Research funding and cutting $771 million by eliminating the Public Company Accounting Oversight board,” per the Hill.
• Senator Jeff Merkley (OR), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said: “...Republicans would prefer to throw out the rule book and advance their families lose and billionaires win agenda, there are rules that must be followed and Democrats are making sure those rules are enforced.”
• More decisions are expected in the coming days as MacDonough continues her 'Byrd Bath'. The most consequential ruling relates to an accounting maneuver known as “current policy baseline” which costs extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts at $0.
• She is likely to conclude her work on the bill by the middle of next week, when Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) intends to hold the first procedural votes on the package.
• Thune could choose to overrule Parliamentarian, but that would undermine the long-term viability of the Senate filibuster. He has previously indicated he does not plan to do so.