A Senate official continues to pick apart President Donald Trump’s priority bill, ruling against including gun silencer deregulation and other measures in the legislation as GOP leaders struggle to push it across the finish line.
Trump wants to pass his signature legislative proposal – which centers around tax and spending cuts – by July 4, and Senate leadership is working to get the bill finalized and up for a vote soon.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has complicated those plans, ruling numerous aspects of it don’t comply with the special rules senators are using to advance the bill with a simple majority vote to avoid a potential filibuster.
Trump’s legislation – which he has dubbed the “big, beautiful, bill” – has been shrinking as it moves through the Senate.
What to know: Why Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ is shrinking in the Senate
The parliamentarian earlier ruled against GOP-led efforts to curb environmental regulations, attempts to restrict federal judges’ powers, plans to bulk up immigration enforcement and to cut funding from the federal agency launched to protect American consumers after the 2008 financial crisis.
The parliamentarian recently ruled that a key Medicaid provision in the bill doesn’t comply with the rules, forcing Senate leaders to recalibrate. Republicans are proposing cuts to Medicaid to help offset lost revenue from tax cuts.
“It’s a setback. We’re gonna have to regroup,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, said June 26 after the ruling.
The Medicaid issue has been a thorny one for the GOP, dividing the party. The parliamentarian’s decision further complicates the debate, prompting some Republicans to lash out and call for her to be overruled.
The parliamentarian’s latest ruling came on June 26, when she determined that the legislation can’t include language on gun silencers, private school vouchers, exempting certain private colleges from a tax on endowments and other measures, according to Sen. Jeff Merkley, the Senate Budget Committee’s top Democrat.
Lawmakers wanted to eliminate a $200 tax on gun silencers and remove a requirement for gun owners to register their silencers.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Florida, criticized the parliamentarian after the Medicaid ruling.
“The Senate Parliamentarian is not elected,” Steube wrote on social media. “She is not accountable to the American people. Yet she holds veto power over legislation supported by millions of voters.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham said the legislation is still on track.
“We’re going to pass this bill and I think get it on the president’s desk before July the 4th,” Graham said. “We’re doing some workarounds with the parliamentarian rulings. Some of them we can fix, some of them we can’t, but we’re going to press on.”
Trump held an event at the White House June 26 to push for the bill’s passage. The president complained about GOP lawmakers who have threatened to vote against the legislation.
“I shouldn’t say this, but we don’t want to have grandstanders where one or two people raise their hand, ‘we’ll vote no.’ And they do it to grandstand,” he said. “Not good people. They know who I’m talking about. We don’t need grandstanders.”
Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, Riley Beggin
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gun silencer language in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ loses ruling
