WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune is defending a Republican proposal to give the Secret Service up to $1 billion for security upgrades to Donald Trump's White House ballroom project, saying the total is "what it costs to protect the President of the United States in a very dangerous time and a dangerous world.”
Thune and Senate Republicans returning to Washington on Monday were facing questions about the plan, which GOP senators added
to a spending bill after a man was charged with trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month. Trump has said that his proposed new ballroom would cost around $400 million and be paid for with private money, but the White House had not previously proposed a number for security costs.
“Keeping the leader of the free world safe is an expensive proposition,” Thune said. ”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.”
Democrats say they will try and defeat the plan, which Republicans added to a spending bill that would restore funding for immigration enforcement agencies that the Democrats have blocked since February.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer noted that Trump said a few months ago not one penny of taxpayer money would be used for the ballroom.
“Well, give me a break. He’s put a billion dollars in the budget for it. This staggering waste of taxpayer dollars has nothing, nothing to do with security and everything to do with Trump’s ego,” Schumer said.
Republicans are using a partisan budget maneuver to push the spending legislation through Congress without any Democratic votes. But 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 by offering amendments that force Republicans to vote on it.
It’s unclear if the security money will even have enough backing among Republicans to advance. 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.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., also said he wanted to hear more details. He asked colleagues to recognize the “volatile times” and the need to ensure the president, members of Congress and guests can gather in a safe location.
"If Republican and Democratic members can take a step back and say this is a real security issue, then maybe it will get done. But if Democrats dig in, it’ll be really challenging to pass that, as you can only imagine,” Haridopolos said.
The House has not released its bill yet, but the Senate is expected to start voting on its version of the legislation next week.
The Senate bill would designate the money for the U.S. Secret Service, including for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to the ballroom project. Trump and other Republicans have been pushing the project 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.
Republican senators were scheduled to get a briefing on the money at a party lunch on Tuesday. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., was also expected to attend.
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.
