Senate

Schumer: Democrats will make stand against $1 billion White House ballroom

by Alexander Bolton - 05/11/26 5:00 AM ET

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by Alexander Bolton - 05/11/26 5:00 AM ET

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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is rallying fellow Democrats in a new “Dear Colleague” letter for a battle royale on the Senate floor over $1 billion in proposed funding for President Trump’s 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom that’s tucked into a $72 billion Republican-drafted budget reconciliation package.

Schumer is planning to turn the Senate floor debate and marathon voting session on the reconciliation bill into a referendum on lowering costs and scrapping the earmark for the ballroom.

“At a time when Americans can’t make ends meet, Republicans say ‘Let them eat cake’ — and then hand Trump a billion dollars to build a ballroom to serve it in,” Schumer wrote in his letter to Senate Democrats on Sunday.

“Americans do not need a ballroom. They need relief. They want their Congress and their President to address the growing cost crisis bearing down on families across the country,” he wrote.

The Republican bill, which was drafted by the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol through 2029 — circumventing the Democratic blockade of funding for those two agencies spurred by the fatal shooting of two anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis.

The bill also provides $1.46 billion for the Department of Justice’s national security division, Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.

And it provides $1 billion to support security enhancements to Trump’s ballroom project.

Critics say much of the security money could be used for the construction of the ballroom itself even though the bill bars the funding from being used for non-security elements.

Schumer slammed the GOP bill for providing tens of billions of dollars to ICE and Border Patrol without implementing any of the reforms Democrats have demanded, such as requiring federal immigration officers to obtain judicial warrants before entering private homes and banning them from wearing masks.

“What’s worse is what this bill does not fund: a single measure to lower costs for working people. No relief on groceries. No relief at the pump. No relief on health care, housing, or electricity bills,” Schumer wrote.

“Republicans, of course, did try to hide a new earmark of $1,000,000,000 to fund the President’s vanity ballroom. At a time when Americans can’t make ends meet,” he added.

He vowed that Democrats would use the Senate floor debate to force Republicans to take tough political votes, like they did during the budget debate last month when they offered amendments to lower health care costs and reverse cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

He said that Democrats will argue to the Senate parliamentarian that key elements of the bill violate the Byrd Rule, which determines what can be added to reconciliation package to avoid a filibuster.

“Democrats will fight the Republicans’ reconciliation bill with every tool we have. We will bring Byrd Rule challenges. We will offer floor amendments. And we will force vote after vote to make the choice unmistakable: will Republicans vote to help American families — to lower costs, to restore savage health care cuts, to roll back cost-spiking tariffs — or will they vote to fund Trump’s gaudy ballroom?” he wrote.

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