Once touted as privately funded, Republicans sneak in taxpayer cash for Trump's ballroom project
Senate Republicans tucked an eye-popping figure into funding for security measures tied to President Donald Trump's ballroom, a project the administration once touted as being completely privately funded.The GOP released...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senate Republicans tucked an eye-popping figure into funding for security measures tied to President Donald Trump's ballroom, a project the administration once touted as being completely privately funded. The GOP released legislation for its immigration enforcement-focused reconciliation package late Monday night, setting the total spending at $72 billion. But it also included $1 billion in taxpayer funding for the ballroom addition to the White House. Republicans had largely kept an arm’s length distance from the project, which Trump first announced last year. The construction drew criticism over the demolition of the East Wing and the flow of outside funding, which the administration has touted as a win for taxpayers. JOHNSON SCRAMBLES AS TRUMP, SENATE REPUBLICANS PRESSURE HOUSE TO FUND DHS But since the third apparent assassination attempt against Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton last month, Republicans have jumped on the ballroom bandwagon. The funding is tucked into the Senate Judiciary Committee’s portion of the reconciliation package, which tees up nearly $31 billion for ICE, $3.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $2.5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and just shy of $1.5 billion for the Department of Justice (DOJ). Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pitched his portion of the bill by bucking Democrats’ desire for "open borders" and their push to defund the police. "Republicans won’t allow our country to be dragged backwards by Democrats’ radical, anti-law enforcement agenda," Grassley said in a statement. REPUBLICANS RUSH TO GREEN LIGHT WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM FOLLOWING THIRD TRUMP ASSASSINATION SCARE The ballroom funding would be doled out to the Secret Service and is explicitly meant for "security adjustments and upgrades," including "above-ground and below-ground security features," according to the legislation. Notably, the measure sets guardra…