BURSTRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tore into Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Friday for his decision not to fire the Senate parliamentarian after an unfavorable ruling on Medicaid provisions in the party’s tax bill and the upper chamber writ large for a planned vote on a war powers resolution later today.
Greene, who has criticized President Trump’s strikes on Iran, went after senators in a lengthy X post on Friday. She labeled Thune “weak” for not moving to fire the parliamentarian after a Thursday ruling threw a wrench into the push to pass the mammoth measure.
“The Senate is out of control!!” Greene wrote. “How is Thune allowing this War Powers Resolution, a referendum against President Trump, tonight at 6 pm??? And Thune is allowing the Senate Parliamentarian (appointed by Harry Reid) to strip out all the MAGA provisions in the bill!!”
Greene likened the parliamentarian to “unelected” officials, such as federal judges and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“Thune needs to over rule her or FIRE HER!!!” she continued. “We need leaders with courage not weak men who refuse to use their power in order to do the right thing!!!”
While Thune controls most things that hit the Senate floor, the only thing he could manage on the war powers resolution — which was authored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — was its timing. The resolution was privileged and was able to hit the floor starting on Friday, though there were talks about holding the vote earlier if there had been enough movement to put the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” on the floor.
The vote — which attempts to block Trump from taking additional military actions against the Iranians without green light from Congress — is largely expected to fall along party lines, especially as Trump tries to keep his ceasefire between Iran and Israel intact.
The parliamentarian is a referee in the Senate who is supposed to determine, in this case, whether the Senate is abiding by its own rules on the budget reconciliation measure.
Senate Republicans, like Senate Democrats before them, are using the rules to prevent the other party from filibustering their legislation. Under budget reconciliation rules, the GOP can pass its measure with just a majority vote.
However, certain rules must be abided by for provisions to qualify under budget reconciliation rules. The Byrd rule is a multi-part test given to some provisions that looks at, among other things, whether parts of the bill are primarily budgetary in nature.
The parliamentarian has ruled that various parts of the bill do not meet the Byrd test, including key provisions on Medicaid cuts.