Juan Salinas II
campus editor
The Senate parliamentarian suggested that Democrats’ decision to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants through the 3.5 trillion budget bill can not be done.
I choose my words wisely because other news media will use terms as “ruled” or “blocked,” but in reality, the Senate parliamentarian has no actual power in determining what the Senate can do.
Elizabeth MacDonough is the Senate parliamentarian. She has held the position since 2012. She is not an elected official. The Senate Majority Leader appoints the position, which was Harry Reid at the time.
The Senate parliamentarian is an official adviser that gives opinions on what the Senate can or can’t do with the reconciliation process. The vice president rarely dismisses the parliamentarian opinion, but Kamala Halmas has the utmost power as president of the Senate to do so.
Progressive Democrats have pushed the Biden administration to ignore the parliamentarian.
“This ruling by the parliamentarian is only a recommendation,” Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted Sept. 19.“@SenSchumer ( Majority Leader Chuck Schumer) and the @WhiteHouse can and should ignore it. We can’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to do the right thing.”
This isn’t the first time the parliamentarian has “stopped” Democrats’ effort to propose progressive policies. In February, the parliamentarian had suggested or “ruled” that the Democrats couldn’t include a federal minimum wage increase to $15 in the bill because it didn’t fit the criteria to be in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.
The Biden administration used this suggestion as an excuse for why the $15 minimum wage couldn’t be included in the relief bill, but in reality, it was to cover for the moderate Democrats, which was exposed when Sen. Bernie Sanders offered an amendment to keep the provision in the bill, which failed when eight Democrats voted against it.
This is the first time I am hearing about the senate parliamentarian. Democrats using someone’s opinion as a barrier to what they want to achieve is a bit ridiculous as we just witnessed the last five years of the Trump administration bully their unpopular policies into law.
Democrats don’t have the luxury of having the illusion of being powerless with the surprise win in the Georgia Senate runoff election. That victory gave Democrats control of the Senate during the mist of the 2020 presidential election.
The Biden administration hasn’t achieved most of its campaign promises because it keeps preaching bipartisanship and not pressuring moderate Democrats to fall in line.
Looking at this in a bigger picture, failing to change the status quo for the working-class will repeat the failures of the Obama administration and end with another Trump -like figure taking office.
