Parliamentarian of the United States Senate
Seal of the United States Senate
Incumbent Elizabeth MacDonough since 2012
United States Senate
Type	Parliamentarian
Member of	Senate Dais
Appointer	Senate Majority Leader
Term length	Serves at the pleasure of the Majority Leader
Constituting instrument	Standing Rules of the United States Senate
Formation	1935
First holder	Charles L. Watkins
Salary	$172,500[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]

Overview

An important role of the parliamentarian is to decide what can and cannot be done under the Senate's budget reconciliation process under the provisions of the Byrd Rule.^[2] These rulings are important because they allow certain bills to be approved by a simple majority, instead of the sixty votes needed to end debate and overcome a filibuster.

The office also refers bills to appropriate committees on behalf of the Senate's Presiding Officer, and referees efforts by the ruling party to change the Senate rules by rulings from the chair. The parliamentarian is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Senate Majority Leader. Traditionally, the parliamentarian is chosen from senior staff in the parliamentarian office, which helps ensure consistency in the application of the Senate's complex rules. The last two parliamentarians have served under both Republican and Democratic Senate leaders.

The Parliamentarian's salary is $172,500 per year, as of 2018.^[6]

List of Parliamentarians

The following individuals have served as Senate Parliamentarian:^[7]

There have only been six senate parliamentarians since the role was founded, with Dove and Frumin each serving two non-consecutive terms.