Democrats vow to fight $1 billion Senate security proposal for White
House ballroom
[May 11, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK and KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans returning to Washington on Monday are
facing questions about a $1 billion Senate security proposal that could
help pay for President Donald Trump’s ballroom as Democrats say they
will try to defeat it.
Senate Republicans added the money for White House security to a
spending bill that would restore funding for immigration enforcement
agencies that Democrats have blocked since February. The steep security
proposal was put forward after a man was charged with trying to
assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner
last month.
Republicans are using a partisan budget maneuver to push the spending
legislation through Congress without any Democratic votes. But in a
letter to colleagues Monday morning, Senate Democratic leader Chuck
Schumer said Democrats will fight it in other ways, including by pushing
the Senate parliamentarian to strike the ballroom security money from
the budget bill and offering amendments forcing Republicans to vote on
it.
“The Republican-controlled Congress is preparing to answer this moment
with a deficit-busting, party-line bill that pours billions more
taxpayer dollars into a rogue ICE operation and a billion-dollar
ballroom, while doing nothing to end the illegal war in Iran or ease the
Republican affordability crisis bearing down on working families,”
Schumer wrote in the letter.
It’s unclear if the security money will even have enough backing among
Republicans. The House has not released its bill yet, but the Senate is
expected to start voting on its version of the legislation this week.
While most GOP lawmakers have remained quiet on the proposal as they
spent their recess out of Washington, some have publicly questioned
whether they would support it.
“I’m going to look at it very carefully and make sure those things are
in the national interest,” said Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican
who was in the Capitol last week to briefly gavel in a pro forma session
of the House.
“I want to know the exact nature of the expenditures that would go there
for security. So I think it’s a little premature to look at that and
say, you know, yes or no to it," Wittman said.
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Construction on the new White House ballroom is seen from the
Washington Monument, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Wittman wants to better understand the details of the Senate
proposal and “how it’s part of what the total construction cost is,"
he said.
Trump has said the ballroom's construction would cost $400 million
and use private funds, but he had not proposed a number for security
costs.
The Senate bill would designate the money for the U.S. Secret
Service, including for “security adjustments and upgrades” related
to the ballroom project, which Trump and other Republicans have been
pushing since Cole Tomas Allen was charged with storming the April
25 media dinner at the Washington Hilton with guns and knives.
The legislation says the money would support enhancements to the
ballroom project, “including above-ground and below-ground security
features,” but specifies it may not be used for non-security
elements.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle praised Republicans last week
for including the money for the “long overdue” project, saying it
would “provide the United States Secret Service with the resources
they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in
addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS.”
The White House has said in court documents that the East Wing
project would be “heavily fortified,” including bomb shelters,
military installations and a medical facility underneath the
ballroom. Trump has said it should include bulletproof glass and be
able to repel drone attacks.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to block
construction of the project, but a federal appeals court said last
month that it can continue in the meantime.
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