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The Senate parliamentarian added a new complication to Republican hopes for their floundering health care bill, ruling the GOP would need to win an all-but-impossible 60 votes to retain anti-abortion provisions in the measure, Democrats said late Friday. (Fram, 7/21)

The provisions appear to violate Senate rules, the parliamentarian said, giving Democrats grounds to challenge them as the Senate prepares for a battle next week over the future of the Affordable Care Act. One provision questioned by the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, and cherished by conservatives would cut off federal funds for Planned Parenthood for one year. Another would prohibit use of federal subsidies to buy insurance that includes coverage for abortions. (Pear and Kaplan, 7/21)

While not a final ruling, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s assessment threatens to further anger conservatives such as Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who say the GOP health-care bill does not go far enough in repealing the Affordable Care Act. (Snell and Eilperin, 7/21)

Ms. MacDonough’s recommendations were released by Senate Democrats. “The parliamentarian’s decision today proves once again that the process Republicans have undertaken to repeal the Affordable Care Act and throw 22 million Americans off of health insurance is a disaster,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), the most senior member of the Democratic caucus on the Budget Committee, said in a statement Friday. (Peterson, 7/21)

The parliamentarian's guidance — provided as part of a process known on Capitol Hill as a "Byrd bath" — amounts to a significant win for Democrats, who are aiming to eliminate as much from the health care bill as possible. But Republicans cautioned that the rulings apply to a prior version of the Senate bill, and GOP aides are already reworking some of the provisions flagged by the parliamentarian, according to one source familiar with the effort. GOP lawmakers faced similar obstacles over language eliminating Obamacare's individual and employer mandates when they drafted the 2015 repeal bill but overcame them through rewrites. (Haberkorn and Kim, 7/21)

The official rules keeper in the Senate Friday tossed a bucket of cold water on the Senate Republican health bill by advising that major parts of the bill cannot be passed with a simple majority, but rather would require 60 votes. Republicans hold only 52 seats in the Senate. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough said that a super-majority is needed for the temporary defunding of Planned Parenthood, abortion coverage restrictions to health plans purchased with tax credits and the requirement that people with breaks in coverage wait six months before they can purchase new plans. (Rovner, 7/21)

Senate GOP leaders could overrule the parliamentarian's decisions, a summary of which were posted on Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders' website. But political observers say [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell will be reluctant to do so because that would jeopardize the future of the minority party's power to filibuster Senate legislation by denying it 60 votes. Some believe he would be more likely to overrule the parliamentarian if he is within one or two votes of passing the bill with those provisions intact. (Meyer, 7/22)

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart cautioned in an email that the parliamentarian’s findings were "guidance on an earlier draft" of the majority leader’s proposal, "which of course helps inform subsequent changes." (Litvan and Dennis, 7/21)

Notably not included in the review from the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, is a proposal from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to allow insurers to sell policies on the exchanges that do not meet the regulations under the 2010 health care law. (McIntire, 7/21)

In a statement, Planned Parenthood said it was "obvious" that the defunding provision would be a violation of the reconciliation rules. "No amount of legislative sleight of hand will change the fact that the primary motivation here is to pursue a social agenda by targeting Planned Parenthood," the group said. (Weixel, 7/21)