The Parliamentarian Backlash: Why Firing Her Won’t Save the OBBB

The Senate Parliamentarian’s decision to carve up the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) has triggered an absolute firestorm. Gun rights advocates, fiscal conservatives, and pro-energy voices are all calling for her removal after she ruled key provisions violated the Byrd Rule.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: firing her won’t save the bill—and it could backfire in ways nobody is prepared for.

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The Reaction

Within hours of the ruling, social media was filled with hashtags like #FireTheParliamentarian and demands that Republican leadership override her advice. The frustration is understandable. This was supposed to be the most sweeping conservative policy package in a generation.

But rage alone doesn’t make strategy.

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The Reality

The Parliamentarian is a referee, not a policymaker. Even if she were removed tomorrow, a new Parliamentarian would still be bound by the same Byrd Rule language.

Replacing her doesn’t magically resurrect the provisions she struck down. Those policies would still need to be justified as primarily budgetary to survive.

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The Precedent Danger

If the Senate decides to ignore or overrule her, it will set a precedent that the majority can simply toss aside parliamentary rulings whenever they become inconvenient.

Sound familiar? That’s because it is. In 2013, Harry Reid and Senate Democrats invoked the “nuclear option” to end filibusters for judicial appointments. They won in the short term.

But when Republicans took over, Mitch McConnell expanded that precedent to include Supreme Court nominations—paving the way for Trump to reshape the Court for decades.

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The Political Cost

Firing the Parliamentarian or ignoring her advice wouldn’t just break norms. It would likely fracture the Republican caucus, alienate independents who value procedural fairness, and potentially tank even a scaled-down reconciliation bill.

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The Smarter Play

Instead of procedural brinksmanship, Republicans should focus on the achievable: refile targeted provisions—especially the repeal of the $200 NFA tax—and let courts challenge what remains.

This path doesn’t require rewriting Senate rules or sparking an internal war.

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Be Careful What You Wish For

During the last administration, Democrats, who held a slim majority in the senate, loudly demanded the end of the filibuster so they could pass their agenda unimpeded. In January 2022, they came very close to doing it. Senate Democrats proposed a special carve-out to kill the filibuster for voting rights legislation. But two Democrats—Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema—refused to go along, and the effort failed. If they had succeeded, the filibuster would be gone today, and Republicans could be passing much more sweeping legislation right now with only 51 votes, including the HPA and SHORT acts as standalone bills.

Today, some Republicans probably wish the filibuster had been nuked. Democrats are quietly relieved it survived.

If you think overruling or firing the Parliamentarian will only be used for good, think again. Future Senates can and will exploit that same precedent to pass sweeping gun control, tax hikes, or worse. These rules exist for a reason: to prevent any slim majority from rewriting decades of law overnight. Abandoning them may feel good in the moment, but it always comes back around.

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The Bottom Line

The OBBB is DOA, and the Parliamentarian will take the blame, along with Senator Thune for not acting to remove her.

Gun owners shouldn’t get distracted by procedural meltdown. The smartest strategy is clear: repeal the tax first, let the courts finish the job, and save the bigger reforms for a clean bill.

Stay focused. The next moves matter more than the last ones. If you care about defending your rights, contact your Senators and Representatives today. Let them know you expect a focused strategy, not procedural chaos, and that you support targeted reforms like repealing the NFA tax stamp.