WASHINGTON—President Trump’s “
big, beautiful bill
” is getting smaller just as Republicans head into a crucial week, after the Senate’s rules arbiter decided several controversial provisions don’t qualify for the special procedure the GOP is using to bypass Democratic opposition.
The tax-and-spending megabill centers on extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, delivering on the spirit of his campaign promises to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime, and providing big lump sums of money for border security and defense. Those new costs are partially offset by spending cuts,
in particular to Medicaid
.
But it also includes other provisions, some of which are now set to get dropped from the final bill. Senate GOP leaders are aiming to hold a vote on the measure in the coming days and send it back to the House, with the aim of getting it to Trump’s desk by July 4.
Senate parliamentarian
Elizabeth MacDonough, who has been hearing arguments from Republicans and Democrats behind closed doors, issued guidance in recent days on which measures don’t fit within the so-called budget-reconciliation process. She is expected to issue more guidance through Sunday night into Monday. Under budget reconciliation, provisions have to be primarily related to the budget to be eligible for a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 votes typically required in the Senate.
One of the top measures that the parliamentarian said didn’t fit, according to Democrats who publicized her decisions: a provision requiring states to pay a portion of food benefits, with their share increasing the more they mistakenly overpay or underpay beneficiaries. It isn’t clear if Republicans plan to rework the measure to try to accommodate the parliamentarian’s guidance.
The measure as
originally passed in the House
would have saved $128 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. While the Senate scaled back the House cuts, it didn’t entirely eliminate them.
Other notable decisions included:
The parliamentarian said a provision barring people living in the country illegally from receiving nutrition assistance didn’t conform to the requirements of the budget-reconciliation process.
She also struck out a measure that would have required plaintiffs to post potentially enormous bonds when asking courts to issue preliminary injunctions or imposing temporary restraining orders against the federal government.
The provision was a variation on a House measure that would have prevented the Supreme Court and other federal courts from enforcing contempt orders unless plaintiffs posted a monetary bond. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) cheered the parliamentarian’s decision, saying Republicans had been stopped from “a brazen attempt to crown Trump king.”
She said a provision that would
reduce the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding
to zero didn’t qualify for reconciliation. She also said a proposal to merge the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the U.S. audit watchdog, into the Securities and Exchange Commission wasn’t eligible for the fast-track process. In response to the recommendations on the CFPB and PCAOB, Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) said he remains committed to advancing legislation that cuts waste and duplication in the U.S. government.
One measure that appeared to survive her review: a provision withholding broadband funds to states that regulate artificial-intelligence technology. Earlier, House Republicans had included in their version of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” a measure that would have essentially imposed a moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence for 10 years. But Senate Republicans changed that language in hopes of preserving the spirit of the policy while ensuring that it could survive the parliamentarian’s so-called Byrd bath—the review process named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D., W.Va.).
Some state lawmakers are wary of the industry because
AI boosts demand for electricity
, threatening to push up consumer prices. But the technology—made possible by servers housed in large, energy-guzzling data centers—is also being sought by states because of the taxes it generates.
Senate Republicans in theory could attempt to overrule the parliamentarian, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) has already said that his party wouldn’t attempt such a maneuver, which could effectively end any special restrictions for reconciliation bills. Neither party has been eager to do so. When Democrats’ proposal to raise the minimum wage in a reconciliation bill was rejected by the parliamentarian in 2021, party leaders took it out of the bill.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at
[email protected]
