Parliamentarian of the United States Senate

Parliamentarian of the
United States Senate
Seal of the United States Senate
since 2012
United States Senate
TypeParliamentarian
Member ofSenate Dais
AppointerSenate Majority Leader
Term lengthServes at the pleasure of the Majority Leader
Constituting instrumentStanding Rules of the United States Senate
Formation1935
First holderCharles L. Watkins
Salary$203,700[1]
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The Parliamentarian of the United States Senate is the official advisor to the United States Senate on the interpretation of Standing Rules of the United States Senate and parliamentary procedure. Incumbent parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has held the office since 2012, appointed by then-Senate majority leader Harry Reid.[2]

As the Presiding officer of the Senate may not be, and usually is not, aware of the parliamentary situation currently facing the Senate, a parliamentary staff sits second from the left on the Senate dais to advise the presiding officer on how to respond to inquiries and motions from senators (including "the Sergeant at Arms will restore order in the gallery"). The role of the parliamentary staff is advisory, and the presiding officer or Senate may overrule the advice of the Parliamentarian. In practice, this is rare; the most recent example of a Vice President (as President of the Senate) overruling the parliamentarian was Nelson Rockefeller in 1975.[3] That ruling was extremely controversial,[4] to such an extent that the leaders of both parties immediately met and agreed that they did not want this precedent to stand, so the next week the Senate altered the rule under consideration via standard procedure.[5] The Senate majority leader may also fire the parliamentarian, as occurred in 2001 during a dispute between parliamentarian Robert Dove and Majority Leader Trent Lott.[6]

  1. ^ Brudnick, Ida A. (April 11, 2018). "Congressional Salaries and Allowances: In Brief" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bolton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Young, Jeffrey (February 16, 2010). "Healthcare reform and reconciliation a bad mix, ex-parliamentarian says". The Hill. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  4. ^ Walter J. Oleszek (February 23, 2016). Amending Senate Rules at the Start of a New Congress, 1953-1975: An Analysis with an Afterword to 2015 (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. 56. Retrieved July 17, 2021. His decisions, especially the furor aroused by Rockefeller's recognition practices, triggered such vehement criticism that it created a hostile mood in the chamber.
  5. ^ "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, 41st Vice President (1974-1977)". United States Senate. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  6. ^ Dewar, Helen (May 8, 2001). "Key Senate Official Loses Job in Dispute With GOP". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2022.