The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that provisions in the Senate tax bill that would have cut the pay for Fed staff violate the Senate rules that governs what can be passed in reconciliation, ie, with 50 votes instead of 60. The provisions would have pierced a longstanding protection in the Federal Reserve Act that says the Fed (and only the Fed) decides how to pay its staff. The Fed sees that provision as a key pillar to its policy independence. The Senate provisions would have slashed salaries for both staff that work on regulatory issues (setting them at 75% of the FDIC pay scale) and on monetary policy (capping pay primarily for the most senior staff).