The Senate parliamentarian’s ruling on Saturday dealt a procedural blow to Republican plans to attach $1 billion in White House security enhancements to a must-pass immigration funding bill, forcing GOP leaders to rework the package as Democrats celebrated what they called a successful defense against taxpayer funding for a presidential ballroom expansion. The decision, delivered late Saturday and described by Senate Democrats, found that the security money was too broad to qualify under the rules governing the budget reconciliation process, which allows a simple majority to bypass a filibuster.
The blocked proposal, requested by the Secret Service, included funding linked to the new East Wing ballroom being built with private donations, as well as a new visitor screening center, additional agent training, and security reinforcements for major events. The agency made the request after a man was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month. Republicans have insisted that private funds would construct the ballroom, while the federal dollars were strictly for security. Democrats, however, have seized on the matter, accusing the GOP of prioritizing a vanity project over Americans’ economic concerns.
Republicans are seeking to pass a roughly $72 billion package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through September 2029, after months of Democratic resistance to additional immigration enforcement money. The overall bill was largely untouched by the parliamentarian’s ruling, with only minor provisions blocked, according to Republicans, who characterized them as technical fixes. The package is being advanced through reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority in the 53‑47 Senate, but the parliamentarian’s gatekeeping role over what can be included in such bills is almost never overridden.
Ryan Wrasse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, wrote in a post on X that the process was “none of this is abnormal” and urged, “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D‑N.Y., however, claimed ownership of the setback. “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.” He added that Democrats “will be ready to stop them again” as Republicans revise the legislation.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said Democrats “are prepared to challenge any change to this bill” and warned that Americans shouldn’t spend “a single dime” on Trump’s “Louis XIV‑style ballroom and throw tens of billions more at two lawless agencies.” The parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory, and the Senate could ignore them, but doing so would break with decades of precedent and could imperil the bill’s ability to pass with a simple majority. For now, the ballroom‑linked security money is out, and the partisan fight over the immigration‑enforcement package continues.