Senate parliamentarian rejects offshore oil, gas drilling provisions in GOP megabill
Source: The Hill
06/24/25 6:42 AM ET
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled against provisions in the GOP megabill to enact President Trump’s agenda that would dramatically accelerate the approval of offshore oil and gas projects, handing Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) a setback and Democrats another procedural victory.
The parliamentarian ruled against a provision in the legislation that would deem offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act, essentially nullifying the environmental review process for these projects. And MacDonough advised against a subsection of the bill that requires offshore oil and gas leases to be issued to successful bidders within 90 days after the lease sale.
The parliamentarian rejected a section of the bill requiring the Interior secretary to permit the construction of Ambler Road, a 211-mile access road that would facilitate the development of four large mines in northern Alaska and hundreds of smaller mines in the region. She also ruled against language in the bill to mandate the sale of millions of acres of federal public land by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
MacDonough said these provisions do not comply with the Senate’s Byrd Rule and therefore are not eligible to pass the upper chamber with a simple-majority vote. Sections of the bill found to violate the Byrd Rule need 60 votes to overcome a point-of-order objection. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, hailed the rulings as another important procedural victory. “Democrats continue to show up and fight every provision of this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill, because this bill is an attack on workers and families everywhere,” Merkley said in a statement.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5365699-senate-parliamentarian-offshore-drilling-gop-megabill/
TALLY OF ITEMS STRIPPED BY PARLIAMENTARIAN SO FAR (plus the OP)
(Agriculture Committee) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143482891
(Banking, Environmental, Armed Services Committees) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143482360
(Judiciary Committee) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143483730
(Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143484256
(Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143484336
= new reply since forum marked as read
and NOT the Executive Branch.
45 wants the idiotic fringe "Unitary Executive" type of government that basically eliminates the concept of 3, co-equal branches with checks and balances, and makes the Executive Branch the supreme one. 
