Senate Republicans drop Trump ballroom funding from immigration bill

By Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Senate Republicans have formally removed funding for President Donald Trump’s ballroom security as part of their sprawling immigration funding package, according to revised legislative text released Wednesday.

The decision to drop the ballroom funding, which had sparked significant debate among lawmakers, is not a complete surprise, though it is likely to frustrate Trump. Senate GOP leaders had already acknowledged that the language would have derailed the entire immigration package, both politically and procedurally, after the chamber’s official rule-keeper determined that it violated the highly specific budgetary rules governing the legislation.

If the language remained in, it would have required 60 votes to move forward, meaning Democrats would have been able to filibuster the bill — preventing the White House from receiving $70 billion for ICE and border patrol.

Some GOP senators also had political concerns, worried that funding the ballroom as Americans wrestle with cost-of-living issues ahead of the midterms would portray them as out-of-touch.

In a statement, the White House downplayed the funding’s removal from the package, suggesting it was the result of parliamentary rules and not political pressure on Republicans. Trump has previously urged the Senate GOP to fire the parliamentarian and expressed frustration they would not do so.

“The parliamentarians decision was reported weeks ago. This framing is false as it implies that republicans removed it deliberately rather than under parliamentary pressure,” the White House said Wednesday.

Construction on the ballroom is already underway, and it is unclear how Congress not appropriating money might affect that. Before discussions in Congress kicked up over security funding, Trump had said the ballroom would be funded by private donations, including from himself. The project is of keen interest to the president, who recently invited reporters to come tour the construction site as he highlighted some of the security benefits.

The Senate GOP’s initial text included nearly $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” to the White House ballroom project, as well as other pots of security money after the assassination attempt against Trump this spring. Administration officials had sought to clarify that only about $200 million would go toward the East Wing project, with the rest going toward other security efforts.

The debate had become a major flashpoint among Senate Republicans as they tried to muscle through a roughly $70 billion immigration funding package. White House officials fought hard to convince GOP senators to keep the money, dispatching Secret Service director Sean Curran to join lawmakers to a Senate GOP lunch, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin spoke to other groups of Republicans on the Hill.

But ultimately, Senate GOP leaders were unable to find a workaround after the chamber’s parliamentarian formally declared it against the budgetary rules necessary to bypass the filibuster.

This developing story has been updated.

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CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.