Security or splendor? Democrats decry $1 billion 'Marie Antoinette ballroom' in new GOP funding bill

After Senate Republicans proposed a $70 billion spending plan that ties long-term funding for immigration enforcement, including ICE and border patrol, to a disputed $1 billion security upgrade for the "East Wing Modernization Project," Democrats launched a scathing attack on the Trump administration, calling the proposal "absolutely absurd."

The bill, released Monday, aims to end a months-long funding standoff that caused the 76-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, the longest in U.S. history. The shutdown ended after House Republicans agreed to a bipartisan Senate proposal to fund the DHS, excluding Immigration and Customs Department (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). At the time, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that GOP legislators would fund the two federal bodies via a reconciliation bill that would not require Democratic support.

The Republican plan sets aside about $38 billion for ICE and $26 billion for CBP through September 2029, while leaving out oversight rules and body-camera requirements that Democrats have been pushing for. However, the greatest point of criticism of the bill has become the $1 billion set aside for "security adjustments and upgrades…to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project, including above-ground and below-ground security features." 

House Democrats, posting on their official X handle, called the plan "absolutely absurd." "Congress never authorized Trump’s ridiculous Marie Antoinette ballroom in the White House any more than we authorized his disastrous war of aggression in Iran. The White House now wants $1 billion from the American people for his self-chosen billionaires' ballroom," they wrote. Senate Chuck Schumer quipped that Republicans "are on a different planet than American families."

Echoing a similar sentiment, Senator Merkley strongly opposed the proposed bill. "First, Trump went around Congress to demolish part of the White House to build his gold-plated ballroom. Now, he's hellbent on getting the project done any way he can—even if taxpayers have to foot the bill. HELL NO!" he said. 

Republicans, meanwhile, say the ballroom funding is a direct response to the April 25 assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The money is expected to go toward new security features, including reinforced bomb shelters. The Republican bill explicitly mentions that the $1 billion funding cannot be used for "non-security elements of the East Wing Modernization Project."

However, Trump critics have pointed out that the $1 billion figure is more than double the original $400 million estimate for the ballroom, leading to claims of fiscal irresponsibility. Additionally, President Trump has repeatedly said that the White House ballroom project would be funded in full by private donors and would not involve taxpayer money. The Senate is expected to start formal debate on the bill next week.