In a blow to the White House, Senate Republicans will remove a $1 billion Secret Service funding request that would help President Donald Trump’s ballroom project from their immigration enforcement funding bill amid internal objections.
“We were told that the ballroom money is out,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters after a GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, adding he’d “like to read the text.”
The decision to omit the security funding came after twin blows: Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled over the weekend that the provision didn’t comply with the strict rules governing what Republicans can put in their filibuster-skirting bill because it funded activities outside of the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction.
And several GOP senators aired public concerns about including any ballroom funding in a bill otherwise dedicated to immigration enforcement. A larger swath of Republicans were privately opposed, with the mood souring further Tuesday amid anger over Trump’s decision to endorse Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming GOP primary runoff in Texas.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Republicans during the lunch Wednesday that both factors — the parliamentary issues and the vote count — remain obstacles to including the Secret Service security funding, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private gathering.
Kennedy told reporters he believed the entire Secret Service provision would be omitted, as did one of the two people, another GOP senator.
Thune, after the lunch, said conversations are ongoing and that the bill text isn’t yet finalized.
Draft legislation made an explicit mention of the East Wing Modernization Project, specifying that part of the $1 billion in Secret Service funding could be used for “above-ground and below-ground security features” of the ballroom project.
That mention was a top priority for the White House, which made clear earlier this month that passage of the bill with the language included would amount to Congress granting approval to the ballroom project as a whole. The administration is currently mired in court after a federal judge ruled earlier this year that the project had not been properly authorized by lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview late last week that the White House had given them proposed legislative text related to the project.
Republicans are privately bracing for a furious Trump reaction to the decision to drop the security funding, according to two people granted anonymity to describe internal conversations. Even before Senate GOP leaders made the decision, the president called for MacDonough’s firing in a Truth Social post.
There had been signs for days, though, that the language was problematic. The administration tried to reassure senators that only $220 million of $1 billion in Secret Service money would potentially go toward the ballroom project and otherwise “hardening” the White House complex.
But GOP senators still had unanswered questions heading into Wednesday, which they viewed as the unofficial deadline for making a decision as they rush to send a bill to Trump’s desk this week.
Removing the Secret Service funding won’t solve all the political headaches Republicans are facing on the immigration bill.
Democrats are expected to propose an amendment targeting a new Justice Department “anti-weaponization” fund created as part of a settlement with Trump that could be used to compensate the president’s political allies.
Republicans believe such an amendment would get enough GOP support to be added to the bill, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.
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