Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough works beside then-Vice President Mike Pence earlier this year during the certification of 2020 Electoral College ballots, in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The Senate parliamentarian, a critical but often low-profile arbiter of the chamber's procedural actions, is the subject of frustration from some liberals after a crucial blow to Democrats' agenda late Thursday.
Elizabeth MacDonough is the unelected, nonpartisan interpreter of chamber rules, commonly referred to as the Senate referee. She nixed a Democratic push to add a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage increase to President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan.