Senate parliamentarian blocks funding for Trump’s $400m ballroom

A US Senate official removed security funding potentially earmarked for President Donald Trump’s planned $400 million White House ballroom from a major spending package, Democratic lawmakers said Saturday, jeopardizing Republican efforts to allocate taxpayer money for the contentious project.

The ruling by Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough dealt a setback to Trump and his administration, which had sought the funding for security upgrades linked to the ballroom.

Trump has stated that construction of the ballroom will be financed by private donors, but Senate Republicans are pursuing $1 billion in taxpayer-funded security enhancements for the Secret Service, including the ballroom.

MacDonough interprets Senate rules, including whether legislative provisions are permissible. Republicans control the Senate with a 53-47 majority and could revise the legislation to seek her approval. If unsuccessful, they may be unable to include the ballroom-related funding in a $72 billion spending package slated for a floor vote, likely along party lines with Democrats opposed. The bulk of the bill focuses on immigration enforcement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took credit for the ruling after Democrats argued to the parliamentarian that the security money did not belong in the bill.

“Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom,” Schumer said Saturday evening. “Senate Democrats fought back – and blew up their first attempt.”

Schumer added that Democrats “will be ready to stop them again” as Republicans indicated they would revise the bill.

Republicans are using complex budget rules to advance the measure without Democratic support. Democrats have opposed funding for Trump’s immigration crackdown absent reforms they have sought since federal immigration agents killed U.S. citizens in separate incidents in Minnesota in January.

With a 53-47 majority, Republicans lack the 60 votes needed to pass most legislation under Senate rules. Democrats have criticized the ballroom as an expensive and frivolous project by Trump while Americans face rising costs such as higher fuel prices.

Trump wrote on social media that the ballroom will be “the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World.”

Republicans argued that the ballroom-related spending is necessary for presidential safety, citing an April incident in which a gunman attempted to storm a black-tie media gala in Washington that Trump attended.

The administration stated that the ballroom will modernize infrastructure, enhance security, and reduce strain on the White House, which often relies on temporary outdoor structures for large events. Trump said the ballroom will be completed around September 2028, near the end of his second term.

Democrats, aiming to win control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, are leveraging Republican support for the ballroom to portray the party as out of touch with cost-of-living concerns amid rising energy costs driven by the Iran war Trump launched in February.

Trump last year ordered the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, originally built in 1902 under President Theodore Roosevelt and expanded in the 1940s under Franklin D. Roosevelt, to make way for the ballroom.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit challenging the project, arguing that neither the president nor the National Park Service, which manages the White House grounds, had the authority to demolish the historic structure or construct a major new facility without explicit congressional approval.

A U.S. appeals court in April allowed construction to proceed after the judge overseeing the National Trust lawsuit issued a temporary halt.

This article was compiled with reporting from Reuters and the Associated Press.