Senate parliamentarian deals blow to $1 billion security proposal for White House

Audio By Carbonatix

WASHINGTON (AP) — A proposal to fund $1 billion in security additions for the White House campus and the president’s new ballroom fails to meet procedural rules, according to the Senate parliamentarian, dealing a blow to Republican plans to include it as part of a bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies for the next three years.

The parliamentarian's ruling, described late Saturday by Senate Democrats, said that a project as large and complex as President Donald Trump's massive East Wing renovation is too broad to be included in the budget bill, which only needs a simple majority — and no Democratic votes — to pass.

It's unclear if Republicans will be able to salvage any part of the billion-dollar Secret Service proposal, which would have funded security for Trump's ballroom along with other parts of the White House, including a new visitor screening center, training for agents and extra reinforcements for large events. Republicans said Saturday night that they are revising the legislation based on the parliamentarian's advice.

Ryan Wrasse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, wrote in a post on X that “none of this is abnormal” during the complicated budget process that Republicans are using to try and pass the immigration enforcement and White House security money on a partisan basis.

“Redraft. Refine. Resubmit,” Wrasse said in the post.

Democrats have seized on the provision, accusing Republicans of dedicating precious federal resources to the ballroom effort instead of focusing on helping Americans with rising costs. Republicans have insisted that private donations will be used to build the ballroom and that the federal dollars are focused just on much-needed security enhancements.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took credit for the ruling after arguing to the parliamentarian that the security money doesn't belong in the bill.

“Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom," Schumer said. “Senate Democrats fought back — and blew up their first attempt.”

Schumer added that Democrats “will be ready to stop them again” as Republicans say they will revise the bill.

The ruling from the Senate parliamentarian is just advisory, but such rulings are rarely if ever ignored when lawmakers put together legislation that can pass with a simple majority. Democrats were challenging the provision as failing to meet the parliamentary standards for inclusion in a filibuster-proof bill.

Republicans are looking to approve a roughly $72 billion package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection for three years after Democrats have blocked the money for months.

As part of that package, Republicans included $1 billion for White House security enhancements, part of it connected to Trump's new ballroom. The Secret Service had requested the money after a man was charged with trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last month.

The overall budget package is providing another boost of funding for Trump's immigration and deportation agenda, fueling operations through September 2029. It comes on top of ICE and Border Patrol funds Congress provided last year in the big tax breaks bill Trump signed into law.

The parliamentarian kept most of the immigration portion of the legislation intact, though some minor provisions were blocked, including Customs and Border Patrol funds to hire, train and pay Border Patrol agents, among others central to immigration enforcement operations. Republicans said those were only technical fixes.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said Saturday evening that Americans shouldn't spend “a single dime” on Trump's “Louis XIV-style ballroom and throw tens of billions more at two lawless agencies."