Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about the Senate Parliamentarian and how Bird is the word.

For months, we've been talking about something called the Bird Rule in passing,

and how it's likely to become really important in the budget reconciliation process in the future. The future is now.

Okay, so the GOP really doesn't want the American people to understand

how much Trump's tax cuts, primarily for the wealthy, will cost an add to the deficit and the national debt.

So they are signaling they'll try to bypass the Senate parliamentarian.

That's the Senate's rulekeeper. The issue is that Trump's gift to the rich is incredibly expensive,

and under current rules, the deficit needs to be offset by cuts. So they want to change the accounting

method from under current law baseline to under current

policy baseline, which means they can pretend like the massive incurred debt doesn't exist.

They are setting up to bypass the Senate parliamentarian and just allow budget chair Lindsay

Graham of South Carolina to say that's the new rule.

This is where the Senate's bird rule comes in. The GOP is citing the 1974 Budget and

impoundment Control Act to say Graham can change accounting practices to alter the way things

are calculated. The effect would hide the massive debt the

Republican base says it cares about. It's worth acknowledging some Republicans in the House

are calling the Senate out. Representative Smucker said, quote, the Senate needs to go back to the

drawing board and really do the hard work that is required to achieve the consensus.

The Byrd Rule prohibits raising the deficit by increasing spending or reducing revenue in the years beyond the window of the reconciliation package.

Graham's way of doing it would alter the deficit

beyond the 10-year window. If a provision doesn't comply with the bird rule, it has to have the

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