Center3 min read
GOP bill includes $1 billion for White House security tied to Trump's East Wing ballroom
Primary region US
Tags Policy · Economy · Immigration
Regions US
NBC News · CBS News · ABC News·
Primary region US
Tags Policy · Economy · 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.