Elizabeth Macdonough Removes $200 Million Ballroom Funding From Senate Bill
Elizabeth Macdonough, the Senate parliamentarian, ruled that funding for the White House ballroom project had to be removed from the Senate budget reconciliation bill after she found it went beyond the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction. The decision pulled a Trump-backed item out of a bill Republicans wanted to keep focused on immigration enforcement.
The ballroom request was tied to $1 billion in Secret Service funding, including $200 million specifically for the ballroom. Because reconciliation bills can move without a filibuster, Senate rules gave MacDonough’s review real force: a provision that fails the Byrd rule can be struck, and a restoring vote would then face the 60-vote threshold.
MacDonough and the Byrd rule
MacDonough is the longtime Senate parliamentarian, not an elected member of Congress, and the ruling came from her rather than Senate Majority Leader John Thune or another senator. She reviewed the text under the Byrd rule, which screens reconciliation language for provisions that do not fit the bill’s budget limits.
If the ballroom funding had stayed in the bill, it could have been removed on the floor through a point of order. Senate Republicans then would have needed 60 votes to put it back, a hurdle they were trying to avoid in a reconciliation package.
Thune keeps bill narrow
After weeks of internal debate, Senate Republicans decided to keep the package narrowly focused on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Thune and other Senate GOP leaders initially said they would work to revamp the language, but they later decided it was more important to move ahead on immigration enforcement without the ballroom funding.
That left the ballroom request out of the reconciliation bill even though Trump had pushed for it and had repeatedly promised the project would not cost taxpayers a dime. The funding had to come out after MacDonough’s ruling showed it did not comply with Senate rules.
Trump and Thune
Trump has demanded that Thune fire MacDonough for standing in his way, and he has made clear his view with one word: “no.” But the Senate process still gave the parliamentarian a direct role in deciding what could remain in the bill.
The practical result for Republicans is a narrower bill and a higher bar for any effort to restore the ballroom money. Unless senators revisit the language and win the votes needed under the 60-vote threshold, the funding stays out.
