President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom is on the brink of being ejected from the GOP’s fast-moving immigration enforcement bill.
Four Republican senators have raised public objections to spending taxpayer money on the project, possibly enough to kill it given the broad Democratic opposition. A larger group of Republicans is privately opposed to the funding, according to five people granted anonymity to disclose internal deliberations.
While one idea being discussed is reducing a $1 billion earmark for the Secret Service, some Republicans are privately pushing to simply remove the provision altogether from a bill that is otherwise focused on immigration enforcement, according to three of the people.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday that, barring new information, he will not vote for funding related to the ballroom.
“They don’t have a bid, they don’t have engineering, they don’t have architecture. …They just kind of made that number up,” he said. “So from what I know now, I will not be voting for the ballroom fund.”
“I do not think the case has been made,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said about the possibility of funding the ballroom project.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “One billion in ballroom funding is just not going to fly, right? It’s just not going to fly.”
Their comments come after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told colleagues Monday that he would oppose the overall immigration enforcement bill this week if it includes the ballroom-related money.
He will support the bill, a spokesperson said, if the line item is removed.
Senate Republicans were already discussing how to revise the $1 billion provision for Secret Service security after the chamber’s parliamentarian ruled Saturday it did not comply with the strict rules governing the party-line budget reconciliation process.
Even if Senate Republicans manage to get it past their rulekeeper, leadership is still facing private concerns from a swath of members and have been talking with rank-and-file members about potential changes, as POLITICO first reported Thursday.
The administration, which told senators last week that about $220 million of the $1 billion could go toward “hardening” the East Wing project, held a briefing for some senators at the White House on Tuesday. Collins said she was not able to attend.
The White House and GOP leaders could seek to scale back the funding or insert guardrails, but time is scarce. The Senate is hoping to start voting on the package as soon as Wednesday, with both chambers hoping to approve it ahead of a weeklong Memorial Day recess.
“If there are legitimate, discrete pieces that are tied to the security, I think there is room for discussion, but my view of it is that the administration has just decided that they’re going to move through all of their priorities for Secret Service and some of the agencies just in this one … big, broad package,” Murkowski said.
Asked if she had heard from colleagues who share her feelings, she said, “I don’t think I’m alone.”
Removing the specific mention of the East Wing Modernization Project would be a blow to the White House, which is eager to get congressional approval for the security funding as it fights litigation challenging ballroom construction. The administration could argue in court that the funding amounts to approval for the project as a whole.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune pointed to Wednesday as a cutoff for Republicans to make a decision on the ballroom funding dilemma.
Asked if he had the votes to include East Wing security funding, he grimaced before adding that there are “ongoing conversations.”
