Republicans are moving forward with plans to provide the Secret Service with an additional $1 billion for security adjustments related to the ongoing White House ballroom construction — even as affordability concerns shape up to be one of the top issues for the midterm elections.
Republican senators are preparing to draft their multibillion-dollar federal immigration package this week, with hopes to pass the bill before the end of the month. Included in the 11 pages of legislative text is a $1 billion boost for the Secret Service, part of which is to be used for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to the East Wing Modernization Project, the ongoing construction of the White House ballroom to establish a secure event space.
Democrats are already seizing on the budget line, accusing the Trump administration of requesting federal taxpayer money to fund what they consider a vanity project. But Republicans have justified the budgetary line by saying it’s crucial to construct a secure space for presidential events.
“We’ve got a president who’s (faced) three attempted assassination attempts just in the last two years,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Monday. “And obviously the money that’s in there is about securing that building. The Secret Service has a job to defend and protect the president, and we need to make sure they have the tools to do it.”
Thune said it had been expected for weeks that some sort of funding for White House security could be included in the final package, but the amount wasn’t fully known by the GOP conference until the text was sent out.
“I support it, I think it makes sense,” Thune said. “I think it’s part of what it costs to protect the president of the United States in a very dangerous time in a dangerous world.”
Not all Republicans are sold on the request. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who often bucks party lines, told reporters there is “a chance it doesn’t get left in” the final package.
“It isn’t what the president has asked,” he said. “The president asked to be able to be allowed to use private money. I think we should stick with what he asked for. My preference is always no taxpayer money.”
Trump has long amplified plans to build the White House ballroom, arguing for months it would be paid for with private donations. But with the security request now being included in the spending package, Republicans say it has to be clear what the money is going toward.
Those are questions Republicans in both the House and Senate are likely to raise in the coming days. Senate Republicans will meet with Secret Service Director Sean Curran on Tuesday to discuss the request further, a source familiar with the plans told the Deseret News.
Utah Rep. Blake Moore echoed similar sentiments, telling the Deseret News editorial board on Monday there are “more aspects” to the request than just ballroom funding.
“The easy headline is ‘It’s $1 billion for a ballroom.’ I would not support $1 billion to to build a ballroom,” Moore said. “But enhancing Secret Service, that is important. I don’t know where the exact dollar amount lies on that. We haven’t even had a chance to meet as a conference yet on this particular issue.”
However, Moore made clear he would not support spending taxpayer dollars on personal projects for the administration, noting lawmakers should be focused on more “major problems.”
“If there’s philanthropic dollars that want to be involved in it — great,“ he said. ”But we need to be very, very clear that we need to protect these Secret Service needs, law enforcement need to have what they need to secure and protect, especially with things that we’ve seen."
Democrats are already preparing to make the process as painful as possible for Republicans, with the party leader in the Senate vowing to force “vote after vote” and challenge the merits of the ballroom funding with the Senate parliamentarian. The reconciliation process, which the funding package will go through to avoid the 60-vote filibuster, has strict rules for what policies can be included.
“Americans do not need a ballroom. They need relief,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a letter sent to Senate Democrats on Monday. “They want their Congress and their President to address the growing cost crisis bearing down on families across the country.”
Schumer criticized his GOP colleagues as becoming “Ballroom Republicans” — arguing the majority party is prioritizing the president’s pet projects over making life more affordable.
“Let me make one thing very clear: Senate Democrats will not let them jam through this bill without making them answer for their endless cost hikes, health care cuts, and every dollar diverted from American families to Trump’s priorities,” Schumer wrote. “(Republicans) still have a chance to break rank with the President and work with Democrats to actually help the American people. But if they don’t, Democrats will make the contrast clear to the American people: Ballroom Republicans are fighting for Trump. Democrats are fighting for you.”