President Trump on Monday called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to “immediately fire” Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to clear the way for Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot.
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune should immediately fire the parliamentarian, who treats Republicans and everything they stand for horribly!” Trump posted on Truth Social, arguing that she’s an obstacle to enacting the SAVE America Act.
“Just the other night, as an example, she ruled against us on a proposal that would have easily been approved, and should have been, by anyone else,” Trump posted.
“We have every right to change her, and should do so, IMMEDIATELY. As long as she’s there, we will never get our desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, approved, and put into full force and effect!” Trump wrote.
The parliamentarian ruled that the SAVE America Act did not comply with the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which determines what legislation is eligible to be included in a budget reconciliation package that can pass with a simple-majority vote, thereby avoiding a filibuster and 60-vote threshold.
As a result, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — two Trump allies — had to ask for 60 votes to waive the budgetary objections in order to consider their proposals to amend the budget reconciliation package with the SAVE America Act.
Both motions fell well short of sixty votes.
When Graham first offered a motion to suspend the budget rules, four Republicans voted “no”: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Thune has repeatedly pushed back on Trump’s previous calls to fire the parliamentarian.
The president tried to pressure GOP leaders to find a new parliamentarian last month after MacDonough ruled against a provision in the budget reconciliation package to provide $1 billion for security upgrades to the White House, including for the construction of a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
Trump posted on Truth Social on May 20 that the parliamentarian posed a major obstacle to passing the SAVE America Act and other GOP priorities.
“The Dumocrats cheat, lie, and steal, especially when it comes to Votes in Elections, but stick together, whereas the Republicans allow the Elizabeth MacDonoughs of the World to stay in power, and brutalize us. We need THE SAVE AMERICA ACT passed, and NOW,” Trump wrote last month.
Thune at the time shrugged off Trump’s demands to fire the parliamentarian as nothing new and warned doing would only make it tougher to manage the Senate as some Republicans would view such a move as likely to destroy the fabric of the upper chamber, where the minority is accorded more power than in the House.
“That’s, I guess, his opinion. But that would create even more vote issues here if we were to try and do something like that,” Thune said of Trump’s desire to find a new parliamentarian.
Trump on Monday repeated his criticisms of MacDonough as someone who was elevated to her position by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 2012 when Barack Obama was president.
He also bashed former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for leaving MacDonough in place after Republicans captured the Senate majority in the 2014 election.
“She was put there by then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Barack Hussein Obama, need I say more? She is a nasty holdover from Mitch McConnell (A man who has proven to be very disloyal to John Thune!)” Trump posted on Monday.
