Senate Republicans Seek $1 Billion for White House Security in Immigration Bill

Senate Republicans added $1 billion for Secret Service security adjustments and upgrades relating to the East Wing Modernization Project to a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement package, the bill text says.

The White House said the funding responds to a man being charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner and would provide resources to harden the White House complex, spokesman Davis Ingle said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and his office said the bill does not fund ballroom construction but provides funds for Secret Service enhancements to ensure protection.

Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Dick Durbin criticized the proposal as prioritizing a "vanity ballroom," while Republicans also seek roughly $26 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and $38 billion for ICE.

Republicans hope to pass the funding through the reconciliation process but the Senate parliamentarian must determine whether the ballroom security funding is permissible under budget rules, and a D.C. Circuit panel has administratively stayed a lower court injunction pending oral argument.