Republicans want to allocate $1 billion in public funds to beef up Secret Service security related to the program.
Published May 17, 2026
A senior U.S. Senate official is posing a major hurdle for Republicans seeking to use tax dollars to improve security related to President Donald Trump’s planned White House banquet hall.
Sen. Elizabeth McDonough ruled Saturday that the funding proposal in the spending bill does not comply with House budget rules, according to Democratic lawmakers.
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President Trump has repeatedly said that the ballroom itself will be funded by $400 million in private donations. But Republicans want the Secret Service to include $1 billion for security improvements related to banquet halls and other planned underground facilities.
Democrats have sharply criticized the proposal, calling it an unnecessary luxury project at a time when many Americans are struggling with rising costs of living, including soaring fuel prices.
Trump, a former real estate developer, has touted the project, calling it “the best building of its kind anywhere in the world.”
The office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said McDonough determined that the security funding could not be passed through the expedited budget process that Republicans are using to circumvent the need for 60 votes in the Senate.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the House and will struggle to secure enough Democratic support if the ruling stands.
Merkley said Democrats will continue to object to Republican attempts to rewrite the bill to meet Senate rules.
The disputed funding is part of a broader $72 billion spending plan primarily focused on immigration enforcement that Republicans hope to pass without Democratic support.
Democrats oppose additional funding for President Trump’s immigration policy unless it includes broader reforms, especially after the killing of a U.S. citizen during an operation by federal immigration agents in Minnesota in January.
Republicans argued that security funding was needed to protect the president. They pointed to an April incident in Washington, D.C., in which an alleged gunman reportedly tried to invade a black-tie media event attended by President Trump.
President Trump said he expects the banquet hall to be completed by the end of his second term in September 2028.
