Senate Referee Rejects Federal Workforce Measures in GOP Bill

Key workforce provisions in a Republican tax-cuts-and-spending bill appear doomed after the Senate’s ruleskeeper decided they didn’t meet congressional budgeting requirements.

The decision by the Senate parliamentarian complicates Republican efforts to weaken some federal workforce protections. Measures that would have raised pension contribution rates for workers who don’t agree to become at-will employees and would have charged federal labor unions cannot pass as part of the larger bill without Democratic support.

The parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, found that the workforce provisions violate Senate policies that limit what can be passed through the budget process known as reconciliation. Her ruling means Republicans would need 60 votes for the measures to pass the Senate—a likely insurmountable hurdle as the GOP holds 53 seats.

MacDonough also ruled against proposals that would make it easier for the Trump administration to reorganize and cut federal agencies without congressional approval and give bonuses to federal workers who identify unnecessary expenditures.

While nonbinding, both parties typically treat the parliamentarian’s rulings as sacred. In 2021, Democrats abandoned an effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 under then-President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief bill, prompting backlash from left-leaning Democrats who called for MacDonough to be fired.

The nonpartisan determinations on the current budget proposal were made public by the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and his staff did not respond to requests for comment.

One of the measures would have charged federal unions a fee for the time their members, public employees, spend on union work. The parliamentarian also ruled out a provision that would have created a $350 filing fee for federal workers to file a case with the Merit Systems Protection Board, and another that would have required the United States Postal Service to sell its electric vehicles.

The determinations came two days after MacDonough ruled against GOP efforts to ax the federal audit board and cut the nation’s largest food welfare program to pay for tax cuts. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.), said the panel would continue to “examine options that comply with Senate to achieve savings through budget reconciliation.”