Senate parliamentarian rules against GOP's White House ballroom plan
May 17 (UPI) -- The Senate parliamentarian has ruled a provision earmarking $1 billion for President Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom cannot be approved without obtaining a 60-vote margin in the body, Democrats announced.
Minority Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said late Saturday Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has sustained their argument that funding for the ballroom -- tucked within a larger funding bill for immigration enforcement -- violates the Senate's "Byrd Rule."
In a blow to Trump's long-running efforts to construct a White House ballroom over the objections of his opponents, the parliamentarian's ruling means that if the $1 billion were to be included within the immigration bill, it would no longer qualify as a "budget reconciliation" measure eligible for approval with a simple majority vote.
Rather, because the ballroom matter has been deemed a non-budgetary policy change, the bill would require a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate, thus enabling Democrats to block it.
The committee's Democratic members said they welcomed MacDonough's ruling.
"The American people shouldn't spend a single dime on Trump's gold-plated ballroom boondoggle," Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement.
"That's why in a bill where Republicans are ignoring the needs of working America and instead attempting to funnel a billion dollars into Trump's Louis XIV-style ballroom and throw tens of billions more at two lawless agencies, Democrats are fighting back."
Merkley said that while committee members expect Republicans to "change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill.
"We cannot let Republicans waste our national treasure on a mission of chaos and corruption while turning a blind eye to the needs of the American people."
When Senate Republicans released the immigration enforcement reconciliation package earlier this month, many were surprised that it included $1 billion in taxpayer money for the massive ballroom project at the White House -- a project the president has widely touted as being fully funded by private donors.
The GOP authors stated the money is to be used for security improvements to the 90,000-square-foot ballroom space, including "security adjustments and upgrades, including within the perimeter fence of the White House Compound to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project, including above-ground and below-ground security features," the bill says.
The White House has used the recent assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner as a justification for the taxpayer funding, saying the money "would provide the United States Secret Service with the resources they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS."
In the wake of the adverse Byrd Rule finding, however, Senate Republicans indicated they will try to find another way to get the ballroom funded.
Ryan Wrasse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, said in social media post, "Redraft. Refine. Resubmit. None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process."
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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 7:16 PM.