The woman who can destroy Trump’s “big beauty bill”

Senate Elizabeth MacDonough may not be a household name, but the so-called Senate judge found himself at the center of a fire after opposing US President Donald Trump’s big giant tax bill.

His 1,000-page document, known as a “large bill,” would cut spending and extend tax cuts.

But Ms. McDonald said some rules violated Senate rules and caused billions of dollars in cuts.

Her discovery also made it difficult for Congress to pass the bill by July 4, a deadline set by the president himself.

Now, some Republicans are calling on the Senate to ignore her advice — against long-term traditions — or fire her.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives Passed narrowly A huge spending bill that includes cutting Medicaid for low-income health insurance programs, reforms to reform food aid programs, and a measure to ultimately collect taxes on tips and overtime pay.

Then, that version went to the Senate, where both Republicans and Democrats wanted to make adjustments.

The U.S. Senate has spent several weeks debating changes and writing a new version of the bill.

Legislators are now competing for the clock to deliver the bill to Trump’s desk by July 4.

Republicans maintain a majority in both the House and the Senate, which should make it easy to pass legislation. However, both chambers’ leadership strives to obtain many provisions from competitive factions within the party, especially in reaching consensus on social programs such as Medicaid.

It is the job of a Senate member to decide whether he complies with budget rules.

Since 2012, Ms. Macdonough has been the first woman to hold the position. Prior to that, she served as a Senate staffer for 25 years and worked for the Justice Department.

While she was appointed by former Democratic Senator Harry Reid, she served senators controlled by Republicans and Democrats.

In 2021, several Democratic lawmakers called on the Senate to overthrow Ms. McDonald, when she could not include the minimum wage increase in the policy bill.

The person who served as a Senate member has also been fired.

In 2001, then-Senate Senate Majority Leader Robert Dove, then-sacked Senate Majority Leader, was followed by one of Dove’s rulings on the bill.

Several provisions proposed by Republican senators violated Bird’s rule, which was adopted by the Senate in 1985, saying “irrelevant” provisions cannot be included in the “reconciliation” bill, she said.

The Budget Bill is a settlement bill, which means it doesn’t require a 60-vote Superman to pass the Senate. Bird Rules say the settlement bill tells the government how to spend money, not how to issue policies.

Thanks to these rules, Republicans can avoid Democrats on the bill and pass it with a simple majority.

But because Ms. McDonald had checked the text, she found many places and conducted a settlement bill in it to try to change the policy.

One of the rules Ms. McDonald ruled is a plan that would limit the ability of healthcare providers to tax more Medicaid funds, a measure that would make it more difficult to disdain the Trump administration’s findings.

More rulings may be introduced as she continues to review large bills.

Some Republicans, such as Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, were dissatisfied with her ruling and even called on her to be fired.

“President Trump’s landslide victory is the mission of 77 million Americans,” he wrote on Thursday. “A beautiful Bill has performed this mission. Members of Congress are trying to undermine the president’s mission and should be fired.”

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall urged his party to pass a resolution to limit lawmakers.

He noted in a social media post that Senate members were fired during the 2001 settlement: “This is the 2025 settlement and we need to fire Senate members again.”

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Republicans should not let “unelected Senate staff” prevent the party from passing the bill.

But the move by Republicans could set a precedent for Democrats, whose past legislative priorities were also thwarted by lawmakers’ rulings. When the party held a majority in 2022, they received two votes, eliminating the Taboo Rules to pass voting rights legislation – overwhelming or firing lawmakers would be a different means to achieve similar procedural goals.

But South Dakota’s Senate Republican leader John Thune appears to disagree with her call for removal.

Thune is the party’s chief spokesperson in the room.

Instead, he described the Senate referee’s ruling as a “speed bump” and said his party had other options to meet the budget cuts that the Republican propaganda would be rewrite the bill.

Thune had previously said it was expected to vote on the bill on Friday, although it was unclear whether Republicans could agree to a bill so that they could move to the floor to vote by then.

Once the bill passes through the Senate, it will return to the House of Representatives for approval. Some Republicans in the House have shown that they are upset with the Senate’s editorial to the bill.

After the bill passes through two houses, it can go to Trump’s table.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration sticks to it by the July 4 deadline.

“It’s part of the process, part of the internal operation of the U.S. Senate, but the president insists on going to the White House to see the bill at his desk on Independence Day,” she said.

With other reports from Anthony Zurcher