GOP push for $1 billion to fund Trump’s ballroom hits roadblock

A GOP bill aiming to use $1 billion of taxpayer money to finance required security for President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom was denied in a Saturday night ruling on technical grounds.

Senate Republicans attempted to include the ballroom project in a budget reconciliation bill—which also includes roughly $38 billion for ICE and $26 billion for US Border Patrol, among other immigration and law enforcement spending—to bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold and only require a simple majority for passage. But all funding in such bills must be directly related to federal spending and revenue, which prevents “extraneous” provisions under the Byrd Rule.

“A project as complex and large in scale as Trump’s proposed ballroom necessarily involves the coordination of many government agencies which span the jurisdiction of many Senate committees,” said Senate Democrats, after meeting with the chamber’s parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, whose ruling stopped the bill. “As drafted, the provision inappropriately funds activities outside the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee.”

The GOP appears poised to seek a workaround. Ryan Wrasse, the communications director for Senate Majority Leader John Thune posted on X that the decision is not “abnormal” and that the next step is to, “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit.” 

The GOP push to fund the security infrastructure conflicts in its own right with Trump’s stated plans for the construction. Trump has repeatedly said that his ballroom would cost no government funds. “These are all private individuals that put up a lot of money to build the ballroom,” he said last November at the White House. “Not one penny is being used from the federal government.”

Some Republican lawmakers are concerned about apportioning $1 billion for the ballroom. “I think the timing and the optics are really bad,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said last week. “This time last year, roughly, maybe a little bit before, we were all impressed with the fact that this $400 million building was going to be paid for out of the generosity of donors, and now we’re hearing 2½ times that is necessary for some other aspect of the project.”

According to a memo shared with senators and obtained by PBS NewsHour, $220 million would be used to toughen the White House complex, $180 million would be used for visitor screenings, $175 million for training, and an additional $175 million to boost security for those under protection by the Secret Service.