Washington Examiner investigations editor Sarah Bedford said some Republicans are getting “cold feet” over President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom funding in the border-security reconciliation bill.
Bedford said the Senate parliamentarian will not allow the funding to pass in its current form.
“The bigger problem is that there’s cold feet among some Republicans about backing the ballroom — just the idea of ballroom funding at all, regardless of how it’s written to survive the procedural hurdles,” Bedford said on The Hugh Hewitt Show on Wednesday.
Bedford said the snag is funding for the Secret Service, a big portion of which would go toward security enhancements for the ballroom.
“The White House is working with senators to try to keep that on track. That’s going to be the controversial part,” Bedford said.
She also clarified that the ballroom funding in the reconciliation bill is specifically for underground security measures and that the cosmetic upgrades above ground are on hold.
The funding “would involve paying for security enhancements to protect the ballroom.”
Bedford said critics may argue there would be no need for security enhancement funding if there weren’t a ballroom at all. She noted that the security provisions would “protect the entire White House complex.”
The ballroom funding came under even more intense scrutiny after the price doubled to $400 million, up from the original $200 million. Trump called a reporter “dumb” last week for her question about the price change.
“It is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal,” Trump said on Truth Social on May 6.
If the Senate passes the budget resolution, the appropriations process begins.
“Democrats clearly have no incentive to help Republicans go through the regular appropriations process,” Bedford said.
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Bedford added that funding across all departments has become so divided that it’s causing concern for appropriations.
“All sorts of things have been politicized under the second Trump presidency that were just never really considered partisan before,” Bedford said.