A Senate official on Saturday removed security funding that could have been used for Donald Trump’s planned $400 million White House ballroom, dealing the White House and Senate Republicans an early setback as they prepare a $72 billion vote. The decision came from Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who interprets Senate rules and can decide whether provisions are allowed in legislation.
Democrats quickly cast the ruling as a defeat for Trump and his administration. Senate Republicans had been seeking $1 billion in taxpayer money for Secret Service security upgrades, including the ballroom, and planned to fold the measure into a massive spending package that is mainly devoted to immigration enforcement. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, but most legislation still needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate, which gives the parliamentarian’s ruling immediate weight.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom.” He added, “Senate Democrats fought back – and blew up their first attempt,” and said they “will be ready to stop them again.”
The dispute sits inside a larger fight over how far Republicans can go using complex budget rules to move legislation without Democratic support. Democrats have opposed funding for Trump’s immigration crackdown and have also attacked the ballroom as frivolous spending, even as Trump says it will be privately funded and finished around September 2028. He has described it as “the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World.”
Republicans say the ballroom-related spending is needed to protect the president, pointing to an April incident in which a gunman tried to storm a black-tie media gala in Washington that Trump attended. The administration says the ballroom will modernize infrastructure, bolster security and ease strain on the White House. Trump ordered the demolition of the White House’s East Wing last year, setting off the broader controversy over the project.
MacDonough’s ruling does not end the fight. Republicans can try to revise the legislation and seek her approval again before bringing the $72 billion package to the floor, where the outcome will test whether they can keep the bill intact while staying inside Senate rules. For now, the first attempt to use taxpayer money for ballroom-linked security has been blocked.
