Do Republicans really want taxpayers to foot the bill for Trump’s premier vanity project?
Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images
In the complex maneuvering over Republican efforts to avoid restricting the conduct of ICE agents while giving them tons of new money, the White House and GOP congressional leaders settled on the device of a “skinny reconciliation bill.” This involved deploying the same special party-line procedures used to enact last year’s Big Beautiful Bill Act to bypass Democrats and pre-fund immigration enforcement until after Donald Trump leaves office. But because congressional Republicans had about a thousand other things they’d love to do via this speedy and totally partisan mechanism, it was important to keep it “skinny” and focused on ICE and the Border Patrol.
Just as plans were coming together for this bill, however, the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner occurred, leading the president to cite it as a reason to move fast on his beloved White House ballroom project. So when Republican senators formally adopted the allegedly “skinny” reconciliation bill, they threw in a cool billion dollars for “security” at the ballroom, dwarfing its advertised full cost. Now, with votes on the bill just over the horizon, the ballroom money is causing heartburn for GOP lawmakers, as Punchbowl News explains:
The White House’s $1 billion request to secure President Donald Trump’s new ballroom is getting a very frosty reception on Capitol Hill, casting doubt on whether GOP leaders can keep it in the upcoming immigration reconciliation package. …
Some of these skeptical Republicans feel the ballroom project is just too politically toxic right now, especially when Trump said for so long that it would be paid for by private funds. Trump’s approval ratings are in the 30s. Gas is $4.55 per gallon. Trump can’t yet find a path to victory against Iran, while he and other administration officials are threatening another war in Cuba.
“A first-year poli sci major would know not to ask members to take this vote and we hope the speaker does too,” one House Republican told us.
Another House Republican put it this way: “There is no way in hell that this will get 218 votes on the floor.”
You can imagine that no one in Congress is eager to share this perspective directly with the president. But again, aside from the toxic nature of the idea of taxpayers financing any part of Trump’s premier vanity project, there’s this question: If the “skinny” bill can include one priority remote from immigration enforcement, why not others?
Prior to the inclusion of the ballroom money, the master GOP plan was to enact the “skinny” bill quickly, then proceed to put together a third reconciliation bill with a whole kitchen sink full of conservative priorities. Perhaps ballroom security could be moved over into that legislative vehicle, along with Iran-war funding, restrictions on voting, the destruction of Obamacare, and God only knows what else. It would be a clever way for congressional Republicans to keep Trump engaged in this legislation, which otherwise might just become the rabbit running around the track that right-wing dogs pursue with tongues lolling out even if there’s no way it becomes law.
