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Senate Parliamentarian Retires, Paves Way for First Woman to Hold Post

Longtime Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin will retire from his post Tuesday and will be replaced by the first woman to hold the position.

Elizabeth MacDonough will take over Wednesday as Senate parliamentarian. Currently, she is serving as senior assistant parliamentarian, a position she has held since 2002. Before that, she was an assistant parliamentarian since 1999. Although there have been women in those two positions in the past — and are currently — MacDonough will be the first woman to hold the title of parliamentarian.

Frumin became parliamentarian in 1987, where he kept the position until 1995. He became parliamentarian again in 2001. Both times he was preceded by Robert Dove, who was first dismissed in 1987 by Majority Leader Robert Byrd and then in 2001 by Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott.

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