OPINION:
Yet another career Washingtonian has taken it upon herself to stand in the way of the agenda for which the American people voted in 2024.
That woman — holding a position far too powerful to be insulated from democracy — is Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough.
The Senate parliamentarian is a role that has been around for only about 100 years. It began as an unofficial role when Charles Watkins simply advised the Senate on floor procedures. The title became official in 1935 to help manage “procedural confusion and mischief” during the New Deal. Watkins served in that capacity for 29 years.
However, since Watkins — who gained the title because of his revered status among all in the Senate — the role has tended to shift with changes in party control. When the Republicans were in the majority, they would place a new parliamentarian. Likewise for the Democrats. That pattern continued until the 2000s.
Now, for some reason, Ms. MacDonough has been left in place as parliamentarian since 2012. The longest anyone else has served continuously in the role between Watkins and Ms. MacDonough is 11 years.
The problem is that the power of the Senate parliamentarian has grown over the decades. What was once a mere advisory role has now morphed into the power to kill legislation on the spot.
In theory, the parliamentarian should not shape policy, because the role exists only to rule on procedural mechanisms. However, procedure often dictates whether a bill ever reaches the floor for a vote at all.
So, for a position that effectively dictates which major legislation can be advanced and which cannot, the person who holds it becomes incredibly powerful.
Take the current battle over reconciliation, the budget procedure that can bypass the filibuster. Ms. MacDonough has consistently and unilaterally declared budget-focused ideas to be policy, effectively killing them. She also has made a habit of creating obstacles for other popular legislation.
She is currently standing in the way of the SAVE America Act, for example.
This is consistent with the political attitudes of the day. Too many people take it upon themselves to impose their political agendas in roles that should be neutral. In a role that should be merely advisory and apolitical, Ms. MacDonough has taken it upon herself to shape policy, usurping the power of the officials the people chose: the senators themselves.
This raises questions. Why is someone hired by the Senate given so much power? In a democracy, why is such a position not accountable to the people? Why do elections not shift the role to be consistent with the agenda the people elected their senators to implement?
The answer is that the role should be both of these things. The parliamentarian is a part of the Office of the Secretary of the Senate and serves at the will of the Senate majority leader, currently Republican John Thune. The role, again now very powerful, should reflect the current majority party’s mandate from the people.
So why then is the current parliamentarian the one chosen by Sen. Harry Reid 14 years ago? Why is the choice of a now-deceased senator who was operating in a different time, under a different people-driven mandate, still controlling the Senate?
The answers to those questions are hard to find. If the parliamentarian is standing in the way of the will of the people — and many elected officials say she is — she should be replaced.
This would be consistent not only with the principles and ideals of a democratic republic but also with historical precedent. For decades, the role shifted with elections. Turnover is healthy in a democratic system. That pattern should be revitalized.
• Curtis Schube is executive director of the Council to Modernize Governance, a think tank committed to making the administration of government more efficient, representative and restrained. He is a former constitutional and administrative law attorney.
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