Senate Parliamentarian Rules Out Gun Silencer, School Choice Provisions From Megabill

Also removed from the Republican-led bill was a provision to create a new, unprecedented federal subsidy for private and religious schools.

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on June 25, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that a provision deregulating gun silencers cannot be included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the GOP is looking to pass to implement President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.

Gun silencers reduce the noise that comes from shooting a firearm.

In another blow to gun rights activists, a provision to also remove regulations surrounding easily concealable firearms under the National Firearms Act was stripped out of the bill.

Also removed was a provision to create a new, unprecedented federal subsidy for private and religious schools.

In another school-related measure, an exemption from an endowment tax for religious-chartered schools such as Hillsdale College in Michigan was deemed out of order.

The endowment tax threshold passed by the House was 21 percent, while the one proposed by the Senate is 7 percent.

Also ruled as not germane is a pre-certification process for eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, which helps low- to moderate-income families with children.

Finally, a provision increasing the maximum penalty for illegally disclosing taxpayer information from a fine of $5,000 to $250,000 and imprisonment of 5 years to 10 years was deemed out of order.

“We have been successful in removing parts of this bill that hurt families and workers, but the process is not over, and Democrats are continuing to make the case against every provision in this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill that violates Senate rules,” Senate Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in a June 27 statement.

“Republicans are actively attempting to rewrite major sections of this bill to advance their families-lose, and billionaires-win agenda, but Democrats are scrutinizing all changes to ensure the rules of reconciliation are enforced.

“We cannot let Republicans succeed in betraying middle-class families across this country.”

MacDonough, said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), should be terminated “ASAP.”

“Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda,” he wrote on X.

The House passed its version of the bill last month, and the Senate is trying to do the same. The GOP is looking to meet a July 4 deadline to get a bill to Trump’s desk.