Have you ever felt like you’re watching a movie where you already know the ending? You see the setup, you know the characters, and you can call the final scene from a mile away.
If you’ve ever felt that way, you’ve probably been watching C-SPAN when a big bill is moving through the United States Senate. It’s one of the most predictable, and most infuriating, shows in Washington.
And I’m here to pull back the curtain on the whole charade.
It’s a magic trick in three parts, designed to make you think your leaders are fighting for you, when in reality, they’re just putting on a show before they fold.
Act I: The Big, Beautiful Promise
It always starts with a big, must-pass bill. Lately, it’s been President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” to fund the government and enact his agenda. The leadership gets out in front of the cameras and tells you all the wonderful things they’re going to put in it.
They’ll say, “We’re finally going to secure the border! We’re going to add work requirements for welfare! We’re going to slash the budget of that bloated, anti-American Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!”
They load the bill up with all the commonsense conservative priorities you, I, and the rest of the base have been screaming about for years. They add these things into the bill to satisfy you. It looks great on paper. You see the headlines, you get fired up, and you think, “Finally! They’re actually listening. They’re finally fighting!”
But you’re not seeing a fight. You’re seeing the setup for the magic trick.
Act II: The Inevitable “Problem”
A few weeks later, the news starts to leak out. A “problem” has emerged. An unelected staffer, the Senate Parliamentarian, is “reviewing” the bill.
Then comes the headline they were waiting for all along: “Parliamentarian Rules Against GOP Provision.”
Suddenly, that plan to impose fees on asylum applications is “out of order.” The work requirements for food stamps? They “don’t comply with the Byrd Rule.” Slashing the CFPB’s budget? “A violation of Senate procedure.”
(The “Byrd Rule,” by the way, is just an internal Senate guideline that says you can’t stuff major policy changes into a special budget bill to get around the filibuster. It’s not the Ten Commandments; it’s a Senate rule the Senate can waive or ignore anytime it wants.)
This is the key moment in the trick. The audience is meant to gasp. Oh no! The mean old Parliamentarian has thwarted our heroes!
Act III: The Great Betrayal
This is the finale. The GOP leaders who promised you the moon come out with their best sad faces on. They hold a press conference and say, with a heavy sigh, “Well folks, we fought the good fight. We really tried to get border security in there. But the Parliamentarian… our hands are tied. The rules are the rules.”
They blame the Parliamentarian. They act like this unelected advisor is a Supreme Court Justice who just handed down a binding verdict.
It is a complete and total lie. And they have no intention of actually supporting or passing what they promised you.
The Parliamentarian has no power. Her advice is just that—advice. An opinion. The presiding officer of the Senate, at the direction of the Majority Leader, can overrule her at any time with a simple ruling from the chair. There is no vote required by the Senate body to overrule the her.
Andy Parrish
Don’t take my word for it. Just a few days ago, when asked about ignoring the Parliamentarian’s opinion to get President Trump’s agenda passed, what did our own leadership say? Majority Leader John Thune said overruling her was “not a good option.”
Not a good option? For who? For the Swamp, maybe. For the lobbyists who want business as usual. For the leaders who don’t actually want to have a real, knock-down, drag-out fight for the things they promised us on the campaign trail.
This isn’t an accident. It’s a strategy. It allows them to go back home to their constituents and say, “I voted for the bill that had the border wall in it,” knowing full well they never intended to keep it in. It gives them cover. It lets them look like they’re fighting without ever having to throw a real punch.
They add the red meat to get you excited, then they let the Parliamentarian—the very same one the Democrats used, whom our leaders reappointed—do their dirty work for them. They get to satisfy the base and the DC establishment all at once.
The Bottom Line
Senator Thune could have appointed his own parliamentarian, like every Democrat Majority Leader has done since 1935 – He didn’t. He kept Harry Reid’s appointee.
Senator Thune could have said “thanks for your advice, but you are wrong” and kept things in the bill, like defunding Planned Parenthood, completely eliminating taxpayer healthcare for illegal immigrants, and prohibiting taxpayer money to pay for sex changes for children and breast implants for men.
He didn’t do any of that, why? It’s simple, he didn’t want to, and he blamed the parliamentarian.
