A Republican effort to redirect $1 billion in taxpayer money toward security work tied to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom was rejected in a Saturday night ruling over technical compliance with the Byrd Rule, Senate Democrats said. The fight now m
By Saturday night, a Republican push to attach $1 billion in taxpayer funding for required security tied to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom had collided with a technical requirement in the Senate.
Senate Republicans had tried to fold the ballroom security provision into a budget reconciliation bill built to avoid the 60-vote filibuster threshold by using a simple majority.. The same reconciliation package also included roughly $38 billion for ICE and $26 billion for US Border Patrol. along with other immigration and law enforcement spending.
But all funding in reconciliation bills must be directly related to federal spending and revenue. a constraint designed to keep “extraneous” provisions out under the Byrd Rule.. In the ruling that stopped the bill’s ballroom-related funding. Democrats said the provision was barred because it reached beyond the committees they said had jurisdictional responsibility.
“ As drafted, the provision inappropriately funds activities outside the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee,” Senate Democrats said after meeting with the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, whose ruling halted the bill.
The reasoning turned on how many parts of the government would be required for a project described as large and cross-cutting.. “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. ” Senate Democrats said.
Republicans signaled they intend to try again. 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 dispute also clashes with Trump’s public message about how the ballroom would be paid for.. Trump has repeatedly said the 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.”
Even within the GOP. some lawmakers have raised concerns about the scale of any new public funding and the political timing.. Sen.. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said last week: “I think the timing and the optics are really bad.. 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.”
The security funding itself has been described in internal figures shared with senators.. A memo shared with senators and obtained by PBS NewsHour says $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.
Taken together. the sequence is stark: a reconciliation bill aimed at bypassing the filibuster was stopped after the parliamentarian’s Byrd Rule ruling. Democrats argued the ballroom provision reached beyond Judiciary Committee jurisdiction. and Republicans immediately pointed to redrafting as the next step while the memo’s detailed security allocations remain on the table.
Trump White House ballroom $1 billion Senate reconciliation Byrd Rule Elizabeth MacDonough budget reconciliation ICE funding US Border Patrol Secret Service security Thom Tillis