Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled on May 16 that the chamber’s reconciliation bill cannot, as currently written, be used to fund President Donald Trump’s ballroom, throwing the project’s financing out of the fast-track package and forcing Republicans to strip it out or face a 60-vote hurdle.
The White House ballroom money had been tucked into the Judiciary Committee’s section of the bill, but MacDonough said the spending went beyond that panel’s jurisdiction. The funding, which remained subject to a point of order if it stayed in the legislation, would have had to clear the 60-vote threshold to be put back in — a major obstacle in a process Republicans were using precisely because reconciliation bills are not subject to the filibuster.
The committee section of the package had included $1 billion in Secret Service funding, among it $200 million specifically for the ballroom, before the ruling forced the money out for failing to comply with Senate rules. That cut the project off from the broader budget reconciliation effort, which was already being narrowed to funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
MacDonough’s decision mattered because reconciliation is one of the few ways the Senate can pass spending provisions without the 60-vote threshold tied to the filibuster. But that shortcut comes with strict budget rules, and the parliamentarian’s job is to review the text and flag items that do not fit, including provisions that run afoul of the Byrd rule. The ballroom financing had become part of a larger Republican attempt to keep the bill focused on immigration enforcement while still finding room for the White House project.
Trump responded with a Truth Social post demanding that Senate Majority Leader John Thune fire MacDonough for standing in his way. He also urged Senate Republicans to fire the parliamentarian and eliminate the filibuster, writing that MacDonough was appointed long ago by Barack Hussein Obama and Senator Harry Reid, and calling her brutal to Republicans. “Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of ’Parliamentarian’ in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an iron fist,” Trump wrote. He added: “Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats—So why has she not been replaced?” Trump also wrote, “Get smart and tough Republicans, or you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”
The ruling leaves Republicans with a choice that now sits at the center of the fight over the bill: drop the ballroom money and keep the package moving, or try to force it back in and accept a vote that could expose the funding to defeat. For now, MacDonough has done what the Senate rules allow her to do — and what Trump clearly wanted her out of the way to avoid.
