A Republican plan to earmark federal funding for President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom hit at least a temporary roadblock Saturday in the US Senate.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who advises members on the chamber’s complex procedural rules, concluded that the spending didn’t comply with Senate budget rules, Senate Democrats said, though Republicans plan to try and rewrite the bill to comply.
“Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom. Senate Democrats fought back — and blew up their first attempt,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement.
Ryan Wrasse, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, indicated they would rewrite the legislation.
“Redraft. Refine. Resubmit. None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” he posted on X. The so-called Byrd Rule process determines whether a provision complies with budget rules allowing some fiscal legislation to pass with a simple majority.
Democrats said they would continue to fight the project.
“The American people shouldn’t spend a single dime on Trump’s gold-plated ballroom boondoggle,” said Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee.
Senate Republican leaders and the White House had sought to attach $1 billion for security upgrades related to the East Wing project onto a partisan budget bill that they had otherwise narrowly tailored to pay for immigration enforcement. The administration told Republicans this week that $220 million of the funding would pay for securing the new East Wing, while the rest would pay for other security upgrades.
Republicans are seeking to overcome Democratic opposition to the ballroom funding bypassing the Senate’s filibuster rule. The filibuster exception is only available to budgetary legislation and all of the provisions must be primarily fiscal in nature, rather than policy items, as well as meet other technical requirements.
Per Democrats, MacDonough concluded that as drafted, the provision would require 60 votes because the provision funds activities that fall outside the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
While Republicans can try and rewrite their bill to appease MacDonough’s procedural concerns and keep funding for the ballroom, it’s not clear the project has the support of enough Republicans to pass the House or the Senate. Republican leaders and the White House argue the new ballroom is needed to protect the president after a gunman was arrested trying to enter the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania told reporters Friday he would vote against the funding, saying his voters want him to focus on affordability, not a ballroom.
And Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky have questioned why the funding is needed when Trump had originally said the ballroom project would entirely be paid for with private donations.
MacDonough’s advice is generally accepted by senators, though technically rulings are made by the Senate’s presiding officer. Some Republicans in the past have suggested ignoring her advice, but that’s extremely unlikely, as senators see that tactic as tantamount to eliminating the filibuster, which many of them still cherish.
