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MAJOR RULING just moments ago from the Senate Parliamentarian. The parliamentarian is the official advisor who interprets the Standing Rules of the Senate, and guides that body on the appropriate procedures for carrying out its work. (The House of Representatives also has a parliamentarian.)

Just a little while ago, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that Democrats could NOT include amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in their massive $3.5 trillion budget proposal. This is OUTSTANDING news.

For a little more info…

While a simple majority (51 out of 100) is needed for the Senate to pass a piece of legislation on *most* issues, they actually need 60 senators willing to end debate before that final vote can even be taken. This is known as the “cloture rule.” (I’m intentionally oversimplifying this. The point is 60 senators must agree to end debate on most issues, else there is no final vote in the Senate.)

Remember: the Senate is split 50-50, with VP Harris representing the tie breaker. This means for highly partisan legislation – which amnesty clearly is – Democrats might have 51 votes needed for final passage, but they’re a long way from the 60 votes needed for cloture so that a final vote can be taken.

There is an exception to this, however. “Reconciliation bills” that deal with federal revenue, spending, and debt only require a simple majority (i.e. 51) to end debate in the Senate, not the 60 required for other types of legislation. Reconciliation bills must be related to fiscal matters, and cannot add to the federal debt.

So Democrats in the Senate were trying to convince their Parliamentarian that their immigration proposals were somehow fiscal in nature. In other words, they certainly didn’t have 60 votes to end debate on that issue, so they were trying to slide it in under reconciliation, where only 51 votes would have been needed to end debate.

Well, the Senate Parliamentarian said NO just a little while ago in a preliminary ruling. (Because, obviously, a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants doesn’t qualify as fiscal in nature.) This means Democrats are back to the drawing board tonight, trying to find another way to get their immigration plans through the Senate.

*** Friends, the Democratic party is not what it used to be. Certainly not on the federal level in Washington. It has devolved into a big government, tax & spend, socialist-leaning group of individuals who are far, far removed from the Democratic party our parents and grandparents knew.