GOP blocks immigration bill over Trump ballroom funds, new controversies

A bid to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol has been derailed by disputes over a $1 billion proposal for security measures tied to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom and controversial plans to create a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

The U.S. Senate will not pass the $70 billion legislation ahead of a June 1 deadline set by Trump, Republican senators told reporters Thursday as lawmakers left Washington for the Memorial Day recess.

The failure came amid backlash from members of Trump’s own party against an attempt to attach funding for his ballroom project to the immigration bill.

The plan generated intense anxiety among congressional Republicans, who feared diverting taxpayer dollars toward Trump’s “East Wing modernization project” amid rising cost-of-living concerns across the U.S. would risk alienating voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Some Senate Republicans also expressed concerns about a plan announced Monday to create a secretive $1.776 billion fund — which critics have argued is essentially a slush fund — to compensate Trump allies as part of an agreement in which the president and his sons dropped a $10 billion long-shot lawsuit against the IRS.

Trump continues to claim the ballroom funding proposal under consideration was for “national security,” including a drone port and bulletproof glass.

“If they want to spend money securing the White House, I think it would be very much a good expenditure,” Trump told reporters. Asked what would happen if Congress does not sign off on the funds, Trump replied: “Well, the White House won’t be a very secure place.”

The Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans.

In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multi-year terms.

The Trump administration is set to loosen a federal rule that requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, in what officials say is a push to lower grocery costs.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said the Biden-era rule imposes costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use.

Trump’s endorsement is typically a boon for candidates seeking elected office — a show of support or disapproval from the president has proved significant in races across the U.S. this year.

But Trump’s recent comments on the Los Angeles mayor’s race, weeks before the primary, are likely to benefit Democrats. The president spoke favorably of Spencer Pratt, a former Republican and reality TV star who is polling second in the contest to lead America’s second-largest city.

Health officials in the Trump administration have issued an advisory about children and adolescents’ excessive screen time, warning that negative impacts on sleep and mental functioning have “become a public health concern.”

The Trump administration broke new ground in its offensive against alleged fraud in Minnesota’s social services Thursday as the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against 15 people accused of cheating a government healthcare program out of $90 million.

The U.S. is imposing strict restrictions on American travelers who have been exposed in dual Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks in ways that experts say could run counter to their legal rights and affect who will volunteer in future public health crises globally.

Newly released body-camera footage shows U.S. immigration officers stopping a van of farm workers in Oregon, smashing their windows and using facial recognition software to try to identify one of them.

The Democrats belatedly published a postmortem on the party’s disastrous 2024 election defeat, after an initial decision to withhold the document triggered an angry backlash.

The Department of Homeland Security has circulated a “Be on the Lookout” alert to law enforcement nationwide, targeting a comedian whose satire of U.S. immigration enforcement went viral.

Oil markets will enter the “red zone” by July and August as stocks dwindle before the summer travel season amid a shortage of fresh oil exports from the Middle East, the executive director of the International Energy Authority warned Thursday.

Catching up? Here’s what happened on Wednesday, May 20.