GOP bill includes $1 billion for White House security tied to Trump's East Wing ballroom
Primary region US
Tags Policy ยท Economy ยท Immigration
Regions US

Primary region US
Tags Policy ยท Economy ยท Immigration
Regions US

Senate Republicans added $1 billion in Secret Service funding to a partisan spending bill that includes $220 million to secure President Trump's new East Wing ballroom. The money would fund bulletproof glass, drone detection, a visitors screening facility, agent training, and other security upgrades tied to the 90,000-square-foot East Wing Modernization Project. Trump says the ballroom itself is funded by $400M in private donations, but Democrats are attacking the security money as a taxpayer-funded vanity project bundled into a must-pass ICE funding bill.
Republicans are trying to bundle ballroom security into a must-pass ICE funding bill via budget reconciliation to avoid Democratic votes. Internal GOP dissent gives Democrats a wedge to force uncomfortable votes and potentially use the vanity-project framing against Republicans in competitive midterm races.