Senate Republicans have rejected President Donald Trump’s call to remove Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough following her ruling that certain White House security funding provisions in the Senate reconciliation package violated chamber rules and could not bypass a filibuster.
Trump criticized MacDonough on Truth Social Wednesday, stating: “Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats, so why has she not been replaced? The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats.”
The ruling reportedly impacts approximately $1 billion in proposed White House security funding, including about $220 million allocated for construction of a new East Wing ballroom.
Senate Republicans have largely dismissed Trump’s demand that MacDonough be removed. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, stated: “I do not support the firing of the parliamentarian. She does an excellent job and applies the Senate rules fairly and in a nonpartisan way.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cited previous rulings against Democratic priorities during former President Joe Biden’s administration, saying: “I think the best answer to that is that the parliamentarian has demonstrated in the Biden administration with their reconciliations that they didn’t get everything they wanted.”
MacDonough, who was appointed in 2012 by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, previously ruled against Democratic efforts involving immigration policy and minimum wage increases under reconciliation rules.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., argued that Senate rules themselves—not the parliamentarian—are limiting Republican legislative goals: “She’s literally not the problem. The problem is we maintain the filibuster,” he said. “I’m always looking for root causes.”
Trump also raised frustrations privately during a Monday call with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., after MacDonough’s ruling threatened portions of the White House funding package.
Republicans are reportedly working to revise the affected provisions to comply with Senate reconciliation requirements.
In his Truth Social post, Trump further criticized MacDonough’s appointment: “Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of ‘Parliamentarian’ in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by [then-President] Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid.”
