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GOP Senators Seek More Detail on Plan 05/13 06:17
Republican senators left a meeting with the director of the U.S. Secret
Service on Tuesday saying they need more details on a $1 billion security plan
for the White House, including a proposed $220 million to secure President
Donald Trump's new East Wing ballroom.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican senators left a meeting with the director of
the U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday saying they need more details on a $1
billion security plan for the White House, including a proposed $220 million to
secure President Donald Trump's new East Wing ballroom.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran attended the closed-door party lunch and
talked through the request as a number of Republicans have questioned it in
recent days. According to a handout he gave to senators obtained by The
Associated Press, the $220 million would go to harden the ballroom addition,
including "bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other
threat filtration and detection systems and a host of other national security
functions."
The rest of the money would go for other security improvements, according to
the document, including $180 million for a new, "long overdue" White House
visitors screening facility and $175 million for "investments to train USSS
agents in the modern threat environment."
The Secret Service request comes after a man was charged with trying to
assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents Association dinner last
month. Trump has said repeatedly that the ballroom construction would be paid
for with $400 million in private funds, but the White House hadn't previously
disclosed the budget for security costs.
Republican senators have said they are supportive of a boost in security for
the president, but several said that Curran's breakdown was too vague -- and
they want to know more about how the money would be spent.
"I want more information," said Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a close ally of the
president. "I ran companies, okay? If somebody came to me and said they were
going to spend a billion dollars on something, I'd get more detail."
GOP pushback could endanger immigration enforcement funding
Republicans have added the security money to a partisan spending bill that
would restore funding for immigration enforcement agencies after Democrats have
blocked that funding since February. But questions within the party about the
White House funding proposal could jeopardize the legislation, which GOP
leaders are trying to pass without Democratic votes.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine,
questioned why all of the security improvements weren't in Trump's budget
released by the White House earlier this year. She said she asked for "a lot
more data" in the meeting.
Indiana Sen. Todd Young said he could be supportive of "a certain measure of
ballroom funding, which I think is defensible, but they need to go back and get
us more detail about how exactly they arrived at the figures."
The information provided to the senators was "broad categories," Young said.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Monday,
ahead of the meeting, that he believes the funding should be private. "That's
still my preference," Paul said, adding that Congress had also increased the
Secret Service budget after another attempted assassination attempt on Trump in
Butler, Pennsylvania, during the 2024 campaign.
"Was it spent wisely? Do they really need more at this time?" Paul asked.
Secret Service cites 'evolving threats' in funding request
Beyond the White House improvements, the Secret Service said it is
requesting $175 million for "enhancements for protectee security," $150 million
for "evolving threats and technology," including countering drones and airspace
incursions, and $100 million for security at high-profile "events of national
significance."
The budget bill introduced by Republicans last week has far less detail. It
would designate the money for Secret Service "security adjustments and
upgrades" related to the ballroom project, "including above-ground and
below-ground security features." But it specifies that the money may not be
used for non-security elements.
The White House has said in court documents that the East Wing project would
be "heavily fortified," including bomb shelters, military installations and a
medical facility underneath the ballroom.
Democrats push back
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will push the Senate
parliamentarian to strike the security money from the bill. Under the rules for
budget reconciliation, the complicated process that Republicans are using to
pass the immigration enforcement money, the parliamentarian must review the
text and can rule certain provisions in or out.
"Americans want lower costs, not a gold-plated ballroom for our billionaire
president," Schumer said.
If the security money stays in the bill, Democrats plan to offer amendments
on the Senate floor that force Republicans to vote on it. Sen. Jacky Rosen,
D-Nevada, said that she will offer two amendments to redirect the $1 billion to
money for a criminal justice program or law enforcement officers' benefits.
There are also concerns about the money in the House, where Republicans have
not introduced their own version of the bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson,
R-La., also attended the GOP lunch on Tuesday.
"We're waiting on the Senate product," Johnson told reporters later in the
day when asked if the security funding was proving to be a hard sell with House
Republicans. "They're working through all that, and then we'll see what bill we
get."
If doubts about the proposal persist, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South
Dakota suggested the security plan could potentially be pared down, punting
some of the request to future annual spending bills.
Still, Rounds said it's possible Republicans will approve the entire request
once they have more details, so it gets done quickly.
"I think as more of the information begins to come out, I think people are
going to feel a lot more comfortable with what they are requesting," Rounds
said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has backed the legislation, arguing that
the Senate should pass it now, "given the obstruction that the Democrats have
posed and their unwillingness to fund law enforcement."
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