GOP Plan to Ax US Audit Board Fails With Senate Parliamentarian

A Republican plan to shutter the US audit board violates Senate rules for a fast-track budget process, Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley’s office said.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the attempt to eliminate the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board doesn’t qualify to be included in the GOP’s sweeping tax and spending bill, according to Merkley (D-Ore.). The GOP seeks to pass it through the reconciliation process, which avoids the chamber’s typical 60-vote threshold.

Republicans in the House and Senate have proposed eliminating the board and its funding while reassigning auditor oversight to the Securities and Exchange Commission ...