Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told Newsweek on Tuesday that he has pitched a new plan to fund the $1 billion security proposal for President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom “without adding to the deficit.”
The ballroom project and the recently added security budget proposal has angered many Democrats and caused frustration for some Republicans. Trump initially said repeatedly that the project would be funded by private donors, not taxpayers—but the discussion about the Secret Service security budget became prominent after the most recent attempted assassination at the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner in late April.
While many Democrats are opposed to the entire ballroom project, expressing anger at how the plan has moved forward with part of the White House already knocked down, some Republicans are concerned about the optics of voting for $1 billion in funding ahead of the November midterms. With those dynamics at play, the security funding faces significant headwinds in the narrowly GOP-controlled House and Senate.
Kennedy told Newsweek that he is considering an amendment to reduce the overall budget package—which largely includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—by $1 billion.
“By reducing his $72 billion request to $71 billion. That would pay for his proposals without adding to the deficit. And I’m drafting an amendment right now to do that. I talked to some folks. I was at the White House yesterday with the president. I didn’t run it by him because we didn’t have time, but I ran it by some of his people,” the Senator said.
“And I don’t speak for them [the administration], but I think they can live. So to recap, basically, the $1 billion for the Secret Service would be paid for,” he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.
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