Senate

Senate parliamentarian rules against Trump’s White House ballroom funding in budget bill

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/17/26 9:31 AM ET

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/17/26 9:31 AM ET

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The Senate parliamentarian late Saturday ruled against the $1 billion provision intended to fund President Trump’s White House ballroom in the budget reconciliation package.

The guidance, according to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, states that “a project as complex and large in scale as Trump’s proposed ballroom necessarily involves the coordination of many government agencies which span the jurisdiction of many Senate committees,” adding that the funding provision is outside the scope of the Judiciary panel

Earlier this month, the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as the upper chamber’s Homeland Security Committe included funding for the new complex in a budget reconciliation bill for federal immigration enforcement.

According to Merkley, Elizabeth MacDonough, the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian, said that the ballroom funds violated the Byrd Rule — a strict Senate procedure that prevents non-budgetary “extraneous” provisions from being passed through the budget reconciliation process.

“The Parliamentarian’s advice is based on whether a provision is appropriate for reconciliation and conforms to the limitations of the Byrd Rule; it is not a judgement on the relative merits of a particular policy,” the Saturday statement from Merkley’s office reads, adding that any vote on ballroom funding would be subject to a 60-vote threshold.

Amid the setback for the White House, Ryan Wrasse, who serves as the communications director for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the plan is to “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit.”

“None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” he added in a Saturday evening post on the social media platform X.

The Trump administration has sought to secure the $1 billion to provide security for the new ballroom at the White House, prompting pushback from Democrats and even some Republicans.

Last week, Secret Service Director Sean Curran gave a presentation to the Senate GOP detailing how the funds would be used. The White House ballroom is expected to open in September 2028.

The administration stated that a $220 million investment will focus on installing bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other threat filtration and detection systems, and a host of other national security functions, according to a one pager obtained by PBS Newshour.

Funding would also be use to counter drones, airspace incursions, unmanned systems, biological threats and other emerging threats through investments in state-of-the-art technologies, the White House one-pager says. The administration’s aim is to also use $180 million for a White House visitor screening facility.

Trump has already secured private donors for the project, but the White House said funds from Congress would be used to improve security.

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