WASHINGTON — A provision in the GOP’s tax and spending bill that makes it easier to get gun silencers violates Senate rules and has to come out, the Senate rules referee said early Friday.
The gun language in the bill was initially added to the House version to garner the vote of Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.). It eliminates a $200 firearm registration fee for silencers and removes a requirement that people have to register their silencers at all. The Senate later expanded this language to include rifles and shotguns, meaning there would be no registration fee or background checks required to obtain them, either.
Because Republicans are using an expedited process called budget reconciliation, which cannot be filibustered, to pass their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the bill needs only 51 votes to pass in the Senate instead of requiring 60 to overcome a filibuster. But everything in the bill has to be related to budget matters, and clearly, a provision aimed at making it easier for people to get gun silencers is not related to the budget. The parliamentarian’s ruling means the gun provision would have to pass a 60-vote threshold to stay in the bill, which means Democrats have the votes to ax it.
