On Sunday, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that a path to citizenship for illegal migrants cannot be included in President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending bill dealing Democrats a major blow.

The Daily Wire reports:

Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram later confirmed the report, writing: “A preliminary ruling from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, obtained by Fox, would bar Democrats from adding immigration provisions to the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.”

“Democrats did not have firm legislative text nor a total price tag for the bill. So it’s hard to see how there is an absolute ruling on this,” Pergram said. “But, budget reconciliation bills, which Democrats were using to avoid a filibuster, must be strictly fiscal in nature and can’t add to the deficit. It was believed that this push to add immigration to the bill was too policy driven.”

“This is a blow to Democrats and progressives who pushed to add immigration provisions to the bill. This will cause problems if Democrats have to slash the total size of the size of the legislation to mollify moderate Democrats,” Pergram continued. “It was thought that lopping immigration provisions into the bill could help placate liberals if Democrats have to trim the size of the legislation.”

Pergram added that the key part from MacDonough’s decision was that including immigration as part of reconciliation “is further evidence that the policy changes of this proposal far outweigh the budgetary impact scored to it and it is not appropriate for inclusion in reconciliation.”

The news comes after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin also announced that he wants to delay voting on the massive spending bill, indicating he has not agreed to vote alongside his party.