Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump has become absolutely obsessed with getting Congress to pay $1 billion toward the ballroom he once bragged would not cost taxpayers a single cent. There's no way that expenditure can get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. So, if it's going to happen, it will have to be in the reconciliation bill (which, it should be noted, may or may not pass, regardless of whether the ballroom money is in it). Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has already performed a Byrd Bath, and said that the $1 billion cannot be included in the reconciliation bill. So, Trump wants her fired, so that the $1 billion can be jammed back into the bill.
This week, some number of Republican Senators have been signaling that they are open to Trump's suggestion, and would like to see MacDonough cashiered. One GOP Senate aide, speaking to reporters, said: "The fire-the-parliamentarian group is growing. There are quite a few members now who are saying, 'We should have fired her day one.'" The aide further said that it's MAGA senators who are most enthusiastic about the idea, in case anyone hadn't guessed that already.
This is, to be clear, useless political theater, meant to persuade Trump that his demands are being taken seriously. It's not even particularly good political theater, since nobody is putting their names to it (the aide's comments, and all other statements so far, have been off the record). So, it's not like Trump will even know that it was, say, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) or Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) who was talking a big game about firing MacDonough.
Mostly, we pass along this news because it offers us an opportunity for a refresher on why this $1 billion isn't going to happen. First, even if it's somehow whipped into shape in a way that qualifies for a reconciliation bill, a lot of Republican members hate the whole idea. They don't want to spend the next 6 months (or, maybe, the next 3 years) answering questions about why they thought Trump's gaudy ballroom was more worthy of funding than, say, USAID, or healthcare subsidies, or school lunches. And let us not forget that there is now a quartet of senators (and maybe more than a quartet) who have nothing to lose, and who are not exactly looking to find ways to honor their nemesis Trump.
The firing of MacDonough is even more problematic. Maybe Trump doesn't understand, or maybe he doesn't care, but if Senate Republicans get rid of MacDonough (or, if they just overrule her, which would be enough), then in exchange for a fairly middling $1 billion victory, they would be opening the floodgates for the Democrats to go nuts the next time they have the trifecta. "If Republican initiatives don't have to undergo Byrd Baths," they will say, "then Democratic initiatives don't have to undergo Byrd Baths, either." And the blue team would cram their reconciliation bills with enough goodies that it would even make Santa Claus jealous—changes to the Supreme Court, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, big chunks of the Green New Deal, tax hikes for billionaires, etc. Defanging the Parliamentarian would be functionally similar to getting rid of the filibuster, except that all the goodies would have to go into one bill (actually, technically, three bills) instead of being passed throughout the year.
The upshot: Sorry, Mr. President, you're going to have to figure out something else when it comes to plans for your balls. (Z)