GOP support for ballroom security funding gets wobbly

Jacob Fulton, CQ-Roll Call on May 19, 2026

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WASHINGTON — A key senator suggested Monday that Republicans may be prepared to ditch security funding connected to plans for a White House ballroom in a reconciliation bill focused on immigration enforcement.

Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the $1 billion in Secret Service funding, which has drawn concerns from several Republicans in both chambers, might have to wait for a subsequent reconciliation bill, based on advice from Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough over the weekend.

MacDonough advised that the provision spans the jurisdiction of several Senate committees, not just the Judiciary Committee as Republicans had assumed, according to Senate Democrats.

Graham said Republicans are “looking to see if you can do it another way.” But that would likely delay funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, the bill’s prime objective.

Republicans could instead look to a third budget reconciliation package to advance the security funding, the South Carolina Republican said, or consider it with another bill.

“We can do it there,” Graham said of a third reconciliation effort. “But we may be able to somehow take another shot at it. But eventually I think we’ll be able to do it.”

Based on MacDonough’s guidance, Republicans had said they would rewrite the provision, which is eagerly sought by President Donald Trump.

Graham, however, said Monday that he wasn’t sure when new text of the Judiciary Committee portion of the bill, which initially housed the ballroom language, would be released.

In recent days, some Republicans have expressed varying levels of hesitation regarding the provision.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told colleagues last week in an email that he would oppose the reconciliation package with the provision included, according to Axios. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has also raised concerns with the provision.

Other key lawmakers, like Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have also expressed concerns and pressed for more details from the White House on the proposal.

Republicans want to get the bill to Trump’s desk in the coming days, before next week’s scheduled Memorial Day recess. The Homeland Security Committee plans to mark up its portion of the bill Tuesday, followed by a Budget Committee markup on Wednesday, though the latter is largely perfunctory.

But key hurdles – namely, the required Senate “vote-a-rama” on unlimited amendment votes and subsequent need for House passage – remain.

Still, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., appeared optimistic about the provision’s prospects as was leaving the Capitol on Monday.

“Our goal is to get 50 votes and to make sure they have the money they need for security,” Thune said.