Quick take: The Senate parliamentarian and the minimum wage (I told you so)

 Just a quick "I told you so."  Berserker warrior, Elizabeth MacDonough, whose job as the Senate parliamentarian allows her to slake her thirst for blood on the stupidity of legislative foolishness, has done the obvious.  Obvious, of course, to everyone except fools like Bernard Sanders.  MacDonough ruled that a minimum wage increase is not, fundamentally, a budgetary policy, and therefore it does not meet the Byrd rule.  It cannot be included in a reconciliation bill, and is subject to a filibuster.  Whether or not a minimum wage increase indirectly affects taxation or spending rates is irrelevant because everything indirectly affects the budget.  If indirect effects counted, the Byrd rule would be irrelevant.  In order for the Byrd rule to operate, MacDonough had to call bullshit.  So she did.

Did I just tell you my opinion on a $15/hour minimum wage?  No.  No, I did not.  Your opinion on wage policy should have no bearing whatsoever on proper interpretation of the Byrd rule.  If you allow your opinion on the minimum wage, as policy, to affect your interpretation of the Byrd rule, then you are allowing your judgment to be clouded.

I called bullshit on the GOP when they tried to include non-budgetary policy in their repeal-and-replace bills.  MacDonough was right.  I'm calling bullshit on Sanders and the rest of the Dems for trying to use reconciliation to raise the minimum wage.  MacDonough is right.

Why am I always siding with MacDonough, whether her battle axe is wreaking havoc across right-wing bills or left?  Am I just in love with the raging barbarian warrior woman?  Well... yes, but that isn't it.  I haven't told you jack-shit about my policy preferences on healthcare, minimum wage, or such.  (And I'm siding with her, whether she rampages across Democratic or Republican bills.)  I just like logic, and she's not just a raging barbarian warrior woman.  She's a logical, raging barbarian warrior woman.  Also, I'm a political scientist.  That means, generally speaking, I like coherent systems of functioning rules.  Yeah, it was cool when Indy said, "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go," but that's no way to govern.  Keep that up, and you're going to crash a bunch of planes, asshole.