Pearl River When Trump and the Republican’s Big Beautiful Budget Bill made it out of the House of Representatives, the topline was clear: give more to the rich, take more from the poor. Past that, it was little more than a political jigsaw puzzle that had little or nothing to do with the budget’s real impacts. Ignoring their own rules in the House and Senate, the Republicans larded the bill up with a bunch of things they likely knew wouldn’t fly, but will appeal to certain special interests and lobbyists important to their campaigns. It was easy to pass the buck. They could either ignore the parliamentarian for each body, chosen by both parties, which the House did, or blame the parliamentarian for enforcing the rules, as the Senate is now doing.
The rules are complex, but they make sense when talking about a federal budget, and remember this has to be all about the budget to escape the filibuster vote super majority. The deficits can’t be carried past 2034 or roughly a decade. Social Security can’t be a target. The items at least have to have a semblance of impact of revenue or spending, as opposed to policy. In short, they can try and slip something in, but if caught, it goes out the door or has to get a different spin or paint job.
Mostly, if you look at the list, it’s politics and “catch me if you can.” A reporter for the Times assembled a scorecard on what the rules have nixed, which makes this crystal clear why so much of this has so little to do with the budget. Here are the highlights thus far:
Food benefits
Requirement that states pay a portion of food aid costs in the SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps)
Limit food aid benefits to citizens or lawful permanent residents, with certain exceptions
Permanent price support authority in agriculture
Immigration and justice
Funding for states to conduct border security and immigration enforcement
Limit eligibility for grants for “sanctuary” jurisdictions, or if the attorney general disagrees with how states and localities enforce immigration policies
Authority for state and local officials to arrest noncitizens suspected of being unlawfully present in the U.S.
Limit on preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders by requiring litigants to post potentially large bonds. This provision could have limited those seeking to block President Trump’s executive actions.
Limitation on the ability of the government to settle with third parties
Energy and environment
Repeal of green energy and emissions reduction programs. The parliamentarian ruled that the bill may take away funding from Inflation Reduction Act programs, but it may not repeal their authorization, so Congress could provide funding to them in the future.
Repeal of an E.P.A. regulation limiting vehicle emissions
A provision would have allowed project sponsors to expedite environmental reviews and avoid judicial scrutiny for a fee. The judicial review portion was found to violate the rules.
Automatic compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act for oil and gas lease sales
Requirement for annual geothermal lease sales and changes to geothermal royalties
Approval for construction of the Ambler Road in Alaska
Fee for natural gas exporters to have their project “deemed to be in the public interest” and approved
Requirement that leases be issued within 90 days of a sale
Mandatory sales of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service land to allow for more housing
Removal of the Interior secretary’s discretion to reduce fees for solar and wind projects on public land
Banking and financial regulation
Elimination of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau funding
Elimination of the Office of Financial Research funding
Elimination of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Reduction in pay of some Federal Reserve employees
Federal workers and government
A version of the REINS Act, which would give Congress more power over federal agency rules
Authorization for the executive branch to reorganize federal agencies
Increase in the rate of required contributions to the federal retirement system for those who do not give up some civil service protections
Incentive program for federal employees to identify expenditures to cut
Requirement that workers and former workers pay filing fees when they make complaints
Requirement that electric vehicles used by the Postal Service are sold
New fee for federal worker unions’ use of agency resources
Other
Reduction in appropriations if Defense Department spending plans are not submitted on time
Transfer of space shuttle to a nonprofit in Houston from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
Playing these kinds of games with real money and their impacts on people makes it easy to understand why almost every poll indicates that Americans have come to regard Congress so poorly.