Senate Republicans Refuse to Fund Trump’s Ballroom in Spending Bill

Senate Republicans decided not to allocate federal funds to Donald Trump’s ballroom project in the latest draft of their budget reconciliation bill on Wednesday, in a blow to the president’s architectural takeover of the nation’s capital.Before the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” overshadowed it, Trump’s ballroom project was the clearest example of how his solipsism was hurting American taxpayers. The White House said the ballroom was needed for security purposes, and initially claimed it would be funded with approximately $200 million from Trump and “other patriot donors.”That number later doubled to $400 million, before ballooning to a $1 billion funding request for White House security—part of which would go toward the ballroom.Despite badgering by Trump that the ballroom was especially needed after a gunman attempted to sprint through a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in April, using taxpayer money on a ballroom was deemed unnecessary by nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough in May. Trump then tried to get MacDonough fired, while his administration submitted court documents claiming the ballroom was somehow “under budget.”Four Republican senators—Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina—publicly voiced opposition to public money going to the vanity project in May. A larger group inside the GOP were privately against the ballroom, according to five anonymous insiders who spoke with Politico. And most GOP senators were likely worried Democrats would put them on the record about whether they supported public funds going to the ballroom during the filibuster process.Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund” has also recently been discarded after he faced public pressure and legal challenges to it.The Senate began voting to begin discussing their reconciliation bill Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time. The bill’s primary impact would be to fully fund the Department of Homeland security through the end of Trump’s second term.