The Senate parliamentarian has blocked one of the anti-trans measures included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the major spending bill that Congressional Republicans are trying to pass under reconciliation.
The Senate requires 60 votes to end a filibuster and pass most legislation, meaning that some Democrats must support most bills for them to pass through Congress. Budget measures can pass with only 50 votes, though, under a process known as reconciliation.
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House Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last month and included bans on Medicaid and CHIP paying for gender-affirming care for transgender people. The House version also banned policies sold in health care exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) from covering gender-affirming care. If passed, these measures will be devastating for transgender people who depend on these programs for health care and could force people to detransition.
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But the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled earlier today that these three measures violated the Byrd Rule, which only allows budget measures to pass under reconciliation, Axios reports. This means that the Senate will need to secure the support of at least seven Democrats to pass the bill with these measures included.
“The fact remains that this bill belongs in the trash,” HRC’s David Stacy told Advocate. “It continues to include devastating cuts to health care programs – including Medicaid – that would disproportionately harm the LGBTQ+ community, all so the already rich can receive huge tax cuts.”
According to HRC, 21% of trans people rely on Medicaid.
The parliamentarian said that quite a few other measures in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act also don’t qualify for reconciliation, including a measure to stop federal courts from blocking the president’s illegal actions, a measure to cut funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a measure to repeal an EPA rule limiting vehicle emissions, and a measure to increase state and local law enforcement’s authority to enforce immigration laws.
The bill passed the House by just one vote, 215 to 214, at 7 a.m. on May 22 after the lawmakers debated all night. All House Democrats voted against the bill, and they were joined by just two Republicans. Almost all House Republicans voted for the bill.
The president has given Congress a July 4 deadline for passing the bill. Removing these provisions from the bill may make it harder to keep support for it from far-right House members, and Republicans only have a narrow majority in the House.
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