Exclusive / Trump privately fumes over imperiled ballroom security money

President Donald Trump aired his displeasure with the Senate rules referee during a Monday call with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, criticizing her decision to block a filibuster-proof vote on security money for his East Wing renovation and ballroom, according to multiple people familiar with the conversation.

The president is leaning on the Senate to deliver $1 billion in new Secret Service funding — including $200 million associated with the demolition of the East Wing for his ballroom and other facilities — as part of a larger immigration enforcement funding bill. Doing so would also put Congress’ imprimatur on the stalled ballroom project, which could help restart construction above ground.

But on Saturday night, the Senate’s independent parliamentarian ruled that the money couldn’t get a vote under the strict rules of budget reconciliation, which allows major legislation to sidestep the filibuster.

Republicans are now working on revised language to deliver new funding for the Secret Service, but it’s not clear whether they will be permitted to directly fund security for Trump’s East Wing project, including the ballroom. Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley told Semafor he was unsure whether specific funding for the East Wing would pass muster, “but there’s no doubt that the Secret Service needs some upgrades.”

Asked to comment on the conversation between Trump and Thune, a White House official said: “We don’t comment on private conversations that may or may not have happened.”

The parliamentarian has frustrated both parties when it comes to budget reconciliation bills, which must have a direct budgetary effect rather than primarily affect policy in order to get protected from the 60-vote requirement of the filibuster. Fifty Republican senators could overrule such a ruling, but that would be akin to killing the filibuster.

During the Biden administration, the parliamentarian dealt a blow to Democrats by ruling against filibuster protections for efforts to raise the minimum wage and ease some immigration laws. Last year, she did the same to Republicans by striking firearms language and some Medicaid language from their party-line tax bill.

Thune said Republicans are attempting to both write language for the Secret Service that can pass parliamentary muster as well as unite 50 of the GOP’s 53 senators: “That’s the calculus we have in front of us right now.”

“I don’t think it should come as any surprise that there’s feedback,” Thune said on Monday. “You just kind of continue to figure out how we address the concerns that are raised there, and look at a pathway to do that.”