The Senate’s top rule keeper struck down key provisions in a Republican-led $72 billion immigration enforcement package Thursday, ruling that they violated budget rules.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that four sections of the House Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s portion of the legislation violated the Byrd Rule, which dictates that provisions in a reconciliation bill must have a direct, non-incidental impact on the federal budget, according to a statement by the Senate Budget Committee. The impacted provisions included funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
MacDonough ruled that the Border Patrol funding sections “inappropriately funds activities outside of [Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s] jurisdiction.” The second provision would have allowed reconciliation funds to screen unaccompanied migrant children, though MacDonough claimed it “undermines decades-old protections for noncitizen children” within the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
Another impacted provision is Section 4, which would have funded $2.5 billion in DHS appropriations. MacDonough also ruled against $19.1 billion designated for parts of CBP, according to Politico.
The spending package would fund approximately $71.7 billion to $72 billion in new mandatory spending, with $38.2 billion going toward ICE and between $22 billion and $26 billion to CBP.
MacDonough serves as a de-facto referee in the upper chamber to interpret Senate rules and her duties include determining which provisions meet the strict requirements governing the budget reconciliation process. She was appointed by former Senate Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2012.
Senate Democrats celebrated MacDonough’s interference, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying that Senate Republicans were fighting to serve President Donald Trump.
“Senate Republicans’ reconciliation bill tells you exactly who they’re fighting for: Trump’s raids, Trump’s violent ICE agents, and Trump’s gilded ballroom — not working families,” Schumer said. “Democrats promised to fight this bill tooth and nail, and on Day One, we forced Republicans back on their heels. They’re already scrambling to rewrite key pieces of their plan,” Schumer said. “But this fight is just getting started. Democrats will keep fighting in the Byrd Bath and on the Senate floor — forcing Republicans over and over to defend their real priority: Trump’s palace over your paycheck.”
Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley said Democrats expect their Republican colleagues “to do anything Trump asks.”
Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, said these are only “technical fixes that were not unexpected.”
MacDonough also put several provisions in the big, beautiful bill on the chopping block in June 2025, advising Republicans to strike an array of banking and environmental-related provisions from their budget proposal that sought to deliver on Trump’s agenda.
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