Pro-gun language stripped from reconciliation bill, put back in - sort of
Late Friday night, Republicans introduced new text to the reconciliation bill, trying to satisfy the Senate parliamentarian’s view on the Byrd rule. The new text will keep short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), any other weapons (AOW), and suppressors under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) but would reduce the tax stamp fee to $0. Machineguns and destructive devices tax stamp fee will remain $200.
The Byrd rule is named after former U.S. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a member of the Democratic Party. The Byrd Rule states that only budgetary and tax items can be passed through the reconciliation process. A reconciliation bill differs from a standard bill as only 50 votes are needed to pass it through the Senate. In contrast, any other bill requires a supermajority of 60 votes to pass due to the filibuster. Republicans argued that since the NFA is a tax law, as confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1937, it could be changed through reconciliation. Democrats argued that it was a policy issue, not a tax issue, and therefore off-limits to reconciliation.
The Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, a Democrat, ruled that the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) and the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act violated the Byrd rule.
She surmised that the tax was intended to help enforce the NFA, rather than the NFA being established to implement the tax, which is an entirely different stance than the Supreme Court took in 1937. Ms. MacDonough has gutted much of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” including cutting benefits for illegal immigrants, leading many to call her a partisan hack.
The Senate Parliamentarian serves at the pleasure of the Senate majority leader, who is currently Republican John Thune of South Dakota. Democratic Senator Harry Reid appointed Ms. MacDonough to the position during the Obama administration in 2012. The role is to advise the Senate, and her advice is not binding. Yet, Thune has vowed to follow it. He could choose to ignore her advice or fire her, but neither is likely.
Republicans claim they don’t want to set a precedent of overruling the Parliamentarian, but Democrats have done just that in the past. Judicial appointees used to be able to be blocked using the filibuster, but in 2013, the Democrats changed the rule.
The Parliamentarian said they could not, but then the Majority Leader, Harry Reid, chose to disregard her advice, which was his right to do. Many in the gun world look to Democrats, ignoring the will of the Parliamentarian, in contrast to Republicans giving in to the will of an unelected Democrat, as proof that Republicans lack a backbone.
On Friday, after the Parliamentarian rejected both the SHORT Act and the HPA, gun owners flooded John Thune’s email and office phone lines demanding that the Republican fire MacDonough or ignore her advice. By Friday evening, Thune’s office voicemail was full, and gun owners reported that they were receiving busy signals when attempting to call. Calls placed by AmmoLand to Sen. Thune’s cell phone went directly to voicemail.
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and several other pro-gun groups issued a joint letter condemning what they see as the parliamentarian’s anti-gun partisan actions.
The gun rights groups called MacDonough’s actions “egregious” and said that if the Senate is not willing to overrule the parliamentarian, it should at least reduce the tax to zero, which appears to be happening.
Sen Thune could still act to fire MacDonough and choose to ignore her advice.
Democrats have vowed to fight the reduction of the tax stamp, claiming that it still violates the Byrd rule, despite having used the reconciliation process to create the Affordable Care Act. In the end, Republicans might leave it up to an unelected Democratic bureaucrat to decide if they will protect gun rights.
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