Senate parliamentarian strikes $1B Trump ballroom security funds from bill
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Senate lawmakers also rejected the final item in the Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill: $1 billion from the White House and Secret Service security fund, tied in part to President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom
Senate Rep. Elizabeth MacDonough, who has been considered nonpartisan since taking office in 2012 during former President Barack Obama’s administration, ruled that the funding provision could not be included as written under budget reconciliation rules; This was a long-awaited outcome from both sides of the aisle.
Ryan Wrasse, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader RS.D., said in a social media post that Republicans will try to review the bill to get the parliamentarian’s approval.
“Re-draft. Review. Re-submit,” Wrasse wrote to X. “None of this is abnormal during the Byrd process.”
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The decision deals a blow to Democrats’ efforts to pass the money with a simple majority as part of a broader roughly $72 billion package focused largely on immigration enforcement, after Democrats forced the longest shutdowns of those budget lines in American history.
MacDonough ruled that the security funding provision fell under House rules that require 60 votes to pass most legislation, according to the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
“While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are ready to object to any changes to this bill,” Merkley said.
Republicans are eyeing the $400 MILLION PRICE FOR TRUMP’S BALLROOM AS SOME STATES ARE OPEN TO ‘DISCUSSION’ THE IDEA
Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough pushed Senate Republicans to rewrite the $72 billion compromise bill regarding $1 billion for White House security and ballroom support. (Getty Images/Reuters)
The parliamentarian interprets Senate rules, including whether legislative provisions are allowed. Although MacDonough is nonpartisan by Senate standards, he served as counsel to former Vice President Al Gore in the Bush v. Gore 2000 election fight that was decided in the Supreme Court.
His decision came just days after some Senate Republicans questioned the Trump administration’s $1 billion request; Some said they needed much more detail before supporting taxpayer financing associated with a project that Trump said would be privately financed.
“It was one thing for private dollars to build this,” Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, told Fox News Digital before a closed-door briefing with Secret Service Director Sean Curran. “If you want a billion dollars from me, I have some really tough questions.”
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President Donald Trump delivers a White House ballroom presentation during the Air Force One media scrum. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
Curtis added that if an employee brought a billion-dollar project to him with little explanation, he would respond: “You made that number up.”
The request included $220 million for “reinforcement of the White House complex,” including above-ground and underground security improvements for the ballroom, according to a one-page transcript obtained by Fox News Digital. These upgrades included bulletproof glass, drone detection technology, chemical filtration and detection systems, and other national security measures.
Another $180 million was proposed for the White House visitor screening center, while another $600 million would be spent on Secret Service training, protection of Trump and other officials, counter-drone measures and other security needs after Trump escaped an unprecedented third assassination attempt last month.
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Republicans defending the request argued that Democrats and critics mischaracterized the funding as a direct ballroom subsidy.
“What’s clear today is: ‘A billion dollars for a ballroom.’ Anyone who prints this is printing something they know,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. “That’s not a billion dollars for the ballroom.”
Still, other Republicans said the administration hasn’t explained exactly how it arrived at that figure. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said officials should provide “more detail about exactly how they arrived at the numbers,” while Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said the administration should explain to taxpayers how much return they will get for spending.
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The White House and GOP supporters have framed the funding as a national security issue, citing threats to Trump and the need to modernize protective infrastructure at the White House. The ballroom will reduce reliance on temporary outdoor structures for large events and improve the safety of the president, his family and visitors, the administration said.
The ballroom project has faced opposition since Trump last year ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for the new facility. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the lawsuit, arguing that the administration did not have the authority to demolish the historic structure or build a major new facility without express congressional approval. In April, a federal appeals court allowed construction to continue while the legal battle continues.
Trump said the ballroom would be funded by $400 million in private donations and would be completed by September 2028, near the end of his second term. The parliamentarian’s decision does not kill the broader spending bill, but it complicates GOP efforts to keep White House security money in a package Republicans hope to toe party lines.
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Democrats dismissed the project as extreme and politically tone-deaf, arguing that Republicans were trying to divert taxpayer money to Trump’s signature construction project while Americans faced rising costs.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Y) called the ballroom a “disgrace” and said Republicans should reject the funding.
“The bottom line is this ballroom is a disgrace,” he said. “Republicans know this. Let’s see if they have the guts to do what they know is both fundamentally and politically correct and tell Trump we don’t need a God, we don’t need a fucking ballroom.”
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It is particularly noteworthy that the ballroom will not be completed until 2028, which is the last year of Trump’s second and final presidential term, according to constitutional law. Trump argues this will serve Democratic and Republican administrations equally.
Fox News’ Alex Miller and Reuters contributed to this report.
