Senate moving forward with reconciliation bill, dropping ballroom funds
Source: CBS News
Washington Senate Republicans are moving forward with a package to fund the Department of Homeland Security's immigration agencies on Wednesday, following a back-and-forth over the Justice Department's "anti-weaponization" fund that threatened to derail the long-sought funding.
A revised version of one part of the package released Wednesday also dropped language that would have provided $1 billion in security funding for the Secret Service, including for President Trump's East Wing renovation, where he plans to build a massive ballroom. That funding faced intense scrutiny from a handful of Republicans, prompting senators to abandon it.
Last month, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees unveiled the initial text of the $72 billion package, which funds immigration agencies through fiscal year 2029. The Senate is scheduled to vote on a motion to proceed to the measure during a vote series beginning at 2:15 p.m.
GOP senators have been seeking assurances from the administration about the fate of the controversial Justice Department fund, which was the subject of a heated meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche two weeks ago. Blanche testified before a House committee on Tuesday that "we are not moving forward with the fund."
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/senate-prepares-move-forward-reconciliation-153805782.html
CousinIT
(12,806 posts)... of Congress, they must pass (via reconciliation if needed or suspension of the filibuster) a rescission of that $72 billion AND the money allocated to DHS/ICE in the big ugly bill, except for the funding levels DHS/ICE had back in December 2024. Then, take the rest of that money and use it to restore Medicaid and SNAP, rehire SSA employees and HHS scientists, and restore the NPS.
maxsolomon
(39,216 posts)Odds are not good.
We'll be lucky to take the House this year with the Gerrymandering the SCOTUS enabled.
in2herbs
(4,608 posts)maxsolomon
(39,216 posts)Not the DHS. That's what Dems got out of the Shutdown - DHS funding pulled from the Continuation and pushed into Reconciliation. They forced the Repukes to waste 1 of 2 Reconciliation bills on DHS.
slightlv
(8,092 posts)not to kid ourselves we're a "free" country any longer. We're a police state, right up there with Russia, we are, IMO.
maxsolomon
(39,216 posts)It was a knee jerk reaction to 9-11 and was unnecessary.
Of course, RW Media would pillory the Dem President who did so as "soft on crime".
slightlv
(8,092 posts)I don't think DHS was knee-jerk reaction to 911 (except to the public). I believe the R's have been wanting to create this for a long time. 911 just gave them the excuse they needed to get it passed through without any pushback. In that regard and others, I always will feel 911 was a LIHOP. If that makes me a CT, so be in. But deep in my gut, it's what I've felt ever since it happened. They've gotten so much traction from it, and so many things that would have been near impossible, otherwise... like all the surveillance and all the contracts for Palantir and other spy-adjacent companies. The "Soft on Crime" meme has done us far more harm... not only in concrete ways such as killing things like DHS before they got started, but also on crime statistics, themselves. Stats show how crime and democracy are so much better under Democratic admins, but the meme is so strong, the R's keep being handed the "touch on crime" and better for the economy headlines. It's a real shame Americans are not smarter people.
Karasu
(2,173 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(182,946 posts)The president said the White House wont be a very secure place unless Congress approved public funds related to the ballroom. GOP senators didnt care.
Trump said the White House âwonât be a very secure placeâ unless Congress approved public funds for his ballroom.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-03T19:11:04.218Z
The plea didnât work.
The problem wasnât procedural; it was the simple fact that too many Senate Republicans werenât willing to vote for his unpopular idea in an election year.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/senate-republicans-ignore-trumps-pleas-strip-ballroom-funding-from-key-bill
It didnt work. Bloomberg reported:
Senate Republicans stripped federal funds for Donald Trumps White House ballroom from a spending package after the money triggered a backlash from lawmakers in both parties.
The removal of the funds Wednesday is a fresh setback for Trump who a day earlier Senate Republicans forced to scrap a $1.8 billion fund to pay allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by the government.
The entire trajectory of this fight has been bizarre for a while. For months, Republican officials in the White House and on Capitol Hill assured the public that the ballroom project would be privately financed. In early May, however, the partys position changed unexpectedly, and some GOP senators unveiled a package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which included a $1 billion provision that, if approved, would spend taxpayer dollars related to the ballroom......
The president kept lobbying, even expressing confidence that lawmakers would eventually give him what he wanted.
Whether Trump realizes this or not, however, his ability to bark orders and have others obey his directives has waned dramatically of late. Hes an unpopular incumbent trying to secure taxpayer money for an unpopular idea in an election year.
Of course, Republicans pulled the provision related to the ballroom despite the presidents insistence that the White House wont be a very secure place.
That quacking sound you hear in the distance is the sound of an increasingly lame duck.