The Senate parliamentarian has existed in Congress since 1935, but it is a role that many people are not even aware of. Recently though, the parliamentarian — the position is currently held by Elizabeth MacDonough — made headlines for pushing back on certain aspects of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
In this video, we learn about what the parliamentarian does, what aspects of the spending bill MacDonough took issue with, and why this process is known as a “Byrd bath.”
We also hear from STAT Washington correspondent Daniel Payne, who discusses how the new tax bill may impact Medicaid recipients and why following the Byrd rule is a norm the GOP is unwilling to break.
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