The fact is that if Senate Republicans stand by the parliamentarian’s ruling and allow her to determine what executive communications are and aren’t actually rules, they will be setting their own new precedent for the CRA; call it “the Whitehouse Rule” after Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., the senator who goaded GAO into action. Going forward, those opposed to CRA resolutions would be able to smother them in the crib with adverse GAO “observations” adjudicated by the parliamentarian, who will herself be mired in an endless morass of legalese about statutory construction and APA interpretation.

Furthermore, if the comptroller general is able to foil the White House’s energy agenda, Donald Trump will surely fire and replace him. Tenure protections have not stopped the president yet. When that legal storm subsides, does anybody really think a Trump comptroller’s “observations” will green light, say, Democrat CRA resolutions against the Department of Government Efficiency? The Whitehouse Rule would set a precedent even Democrats will regret — and perhaps a lot sooner than they think.

Much has been made about Congress outsourcing its legislative responsibilities — to the courts, the executive, and private parties. Senate Republicans shouldn’t continue this unfortunate trend by outsourcing their legislative prerogatives to the parliamentarian.