Senate ref holds power over Trump agenda

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The Hill

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is the most powerful person in Washington few have heard of.
As the Senate’s chief procedural referee, she will decide how much of President Trump’s agenda can pass without any Democratic votes.
GOP leaders plan to pass legislation reforming the nation’s healthcare system and overhauling the tax code through special “budget ­reconciliation” rules that would prevent a Democratic filibuster.
Republican senators are also looking at scrapping pieces of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act through the use of the same rules.
Their success may largely come down to MacDonough.
“The parliamentarian makes the calls,” said former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who worked with MacDonough in 2010 when Democrats passed a major revision to the Affordable Care Act with a simple majority.

“She’s able to say what can be voted on with a simple majority versus what requires a supermajority, so this gives the parliamentarian extraordinary influence on the outcome,” Conrad said.