Exclusive — Rand Paul: Unelected Senate Parliamentarian Nixed Eliminating Welfare Benefits for Illegal Aliens in Big, Beautiful Bill

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is raising the alarm over what he sees as a major threat to fiscal responsibility and the legislative power of elected officials: an unelected Senate parliamentarian using bureaucratic authority to shut down efforts to cut off taxpayer-funded welfare for illegal immigrants.

Speaking on Breitbart News Daily, Sen. Paul revealed that the Senate parliamentarian recently ruled against eliminating Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for non-citizens as part of the GOP-led budget reconciliation process.

“We have basically an unelected, you know, person [who] works in the Senate [and] has now decided that she can decide for the country that we can’t eliminate welfare for illegal aliens — which is, to me, insane that we allow that to happen,” Paul said.

Under Senate rules, the parliamentarian acts as a sort of referee, interpreting what can and can’t be included in budget reconciliation bills — fast-track legislation that bypasses the filibuster. But Paul argues this procedural gatekeeping has morphed into something far more dangerous.

“It’s a sort of a charade,” Paul said, pointing out that senators from both parties must now “beseech her on bended knee” to approve or reject policy language. “She gets to decide. It’s just this amazing power where she is the sole decider on this, and she’s never been elected to anything.”

Conservatives have long warned about unelected bureaucrats wielding outsized influence over national policy, and this latest example only reinforces those concerns. The ruling not only protected welfare benefits for illegal immigrants — something the vast majority of Americans oppose — but also blocked broader spending cuts.

Paul explained that the argument used to block welfare cuts is based on whether a provision is primarily “budgetary” or “policy-related.” But the dividing line is arbitrary — and entirely up to the parliamentarian.

“They say… the effect of the legislation has to be more monetary than policy, but it’s sort of a judgment call,” Paul said. “So is it policy that you don’t want illegal aliens to have welfare, or is that budgetary? Well, it saves a lot of money.”

According to Paul, cutting off benefits to illegal immigrants could save hundreds of millions — possibly even billions — of taxpayer dollars. But because the ruling deemed it “policy,” it was scrapped from the bill.

Paul also pointed to the REINS Act, a long-standing conservative effort to rein in bureaucratic overreach by requiring congressional approval of any regulation with a major economic impact. That bill, too, was blocked from reconciliation by the parliamentarian.

“That would save a lot of money, because these [regulations] have a great deal of impact on the economy,” Paul explained. “But the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that this is policy and therefore does not get to be included either.”

This leaves elected representatives — the very people voters send to Washington to control the purse strings and push back on big government — subject to the final say of a single unelected staffer.

While Democrats have successfully used the reconciliation process to ram through massive spending packages — with the parliamentarian often greenlighting expansive interpretations — Paul says Republicans face an uphill battle when trying to use the same process to cut government waste.

“When it comes to expanding spending under the Democrats, her rulings have been very expansive… but when it comes to cutting spending, she’s been much more parsimonious with allowing us to cut spending using these rules,” Paul said.

The double standard is impossible to ignore. It reinforces a larger concern within conservative circles that the rules of the game — and the people interpreting them — are tilted in favor of big government expansion and progressive agendas.

This episode offers a clear window into how unelected Washington insiders can block real reform — even when it has majority support. At a time when the nation is drowning in debt and hardworking Americans are footing the bill for massive welfare programs — including some for non-citizens — the idea that a Senate staffer can unilaterally shield those benefits should concern every voter.

Senator Paul isn’t questioning the parliamentarian’s personal integrity, but he is sounding the alarm over a system that gives unelected bureaucrats the power to override the will of the people.

“Most Americans would be shocked to know that their elected officials are held hostage by an unelected bureaucrat,” Paul concluded.

In a functioning republic, policy decisions with billions of taxpayer dollars at stake should be made by those accountable to the voters — not hidden away behind procedural rulings and closed-door determinations. For conservatives fighting to restore fiscal sanity and limit the size of government, this battle is far from over.