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An internal dispute could derail Republicans’ goal of funding immigration operations for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s presidency.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told his colleagues that he would not support the GOP’s $72 billion reconciliation package if it included $1 billion in funding for Trump’s ballroom.
His defection, along with a handful of other Republicans critical of the funding, could sink the bill.
SENATE REPUBLICANS BALK AT $1B WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM REQUEST: ‘YOU MADE THAT NUMBER UP’
And given the GOP’s narrow margin in the upper chamber, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., can’t afford Republicans to break from the party line.
Tillis’ opposition, which was first reported by Axios and confirmed by a source familiar to Fox News Digital, alone isn’t enough to torpedo the package meant to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three and a half years.
But others, including Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., aren’t thrilled with the funding.
Republicans were briefed by Secret Service Director Sean Curran last week on the funding, which included $220 million for “White House complex hardening.”
REPUBLICANS SLIP $1 BILLION IN TAXPAYER MONEY FOR TRUMP BALLROOM SECURITY IN ICE, BORDER PATROL PACKAGE
That would fund “above and below ground” security enhancements for Trump’s ballroom, which the administration argued would “afford needed protection for the president, his family, and visitors, along with the below-ground, highest-level security functions,” according to an itemized readout obtained by Fox News Digital.
Those enhancements would include bulletproof glass, drone detection technology, chemical filtration and detection systems and “a host of other national security functions.”
An additional $180 million would go toward a White House screening center for visitors. The remaining $600 million would go toward Secret Service training, enhancing protection for Trump and other officials, and other security measures including countering drones and other aerial incursions.
But a saving grace for Republicans could be the Senate referee’s ruling that funding for the ballroom should get yanked from the package.
In order for budget reconciliation to pause the 60-vote threshold and pass under a simple majority of votes, the package has to comply with the Senate’s strict Byrd Rule. Senate Democrats pushed for the Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to strip out the funding, and they were successful.
SEVERAL PROVISIONS FAIL TO PASS MUSTER WITH SENATE RULES IN ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’
McDonough ruled over the weekend that, given the complexity and scale of the ballroom project, it would involve the coordination of “many government agencies which span the jurisdiction of many Senate committees. As drafted, the provision inappropriately funds activities outside the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee.”
Thune said that Republicans had learned a lot from the parliamentarian’s rulings last year when they were crafting the “big, beautiful bill,” and that the process is a “give-and-take.”
But still, it’s full steam ahead for the GOP to try and advance the package by the end of the week.
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“I think that if we can get it done, we should get it done,” Thune said. “I’m always somebody who believes, especially around here, you want to strike while the iron’s hot, and I think if we, if we’re ready to go, the committees have acted, and we’re in a good place with parliamentarian, and we’ve got, you know, decent attendance here, then I think we want to try and wrap this up.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, lauded the ruling, but noted that Republicans would likely try to find a way to work the funding back in.
“We cannot let Republicans waste our national treasure on a mission of chaos and corruption while turning a blind eye to the needs of the American people,” Merkley said.
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