Senate GOP Drops $1 Billion Trump Ballroom Security Funding as Vote Count and Rules Falter
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · May 20
Senate GOP Drops $1 Billion Trump Ballroom Security Funding as Vote Count and Rules Falter
14 articles · Updated · POLITICO · May 20
$1 billion in Secret Service funding tied to Trump’s East Wing ballroom is expected to be stripped from the Senate GOP immigration bill, with several Republican senators saying the provision will likely be omitted.
John Thune told Republicans that parliamentary problems and insufficient votes blocked the language, after senators also objected to attaching ballroom funding to an immigration package.
Only $220 million of the request was pitched for the ballroom itself, but draft text explicitly referenced the East Wing Modernization Project — language the White House viewed as congressional approval of a project now tied up in court.
Republican resistance hardened as Trump endorsed Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn in Texas, and GOP senators are privately bracing for an angry response from Trump after he had already called for the Senate parliamentarian’s firing.
Dropping the provision does not end the bill’s risks: Democrats plan an amendment targeting a new Justice Department “anti-weaponization” fund, and Republicans think enough GOP senators could back it.
After failing a key procedural hurdle, what is the new strategy to secure funding for White House security?
What specific security threats justify the $1 billion price tag for the East Wing modernization project?
How will a new ballroom physically protect a secret military complex reportedly being built beneath the White House?