Republican senators say they need more detail on $1B White House security request
WASHINGTON -- 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 Callan discussed the proposal at a closed-door party lunch. According to a breakdown of the plan 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 Secret Service request comes after a man was charged with trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents Association dinner last month. The rest of the money would go for other security improvements, according to the document, including $180 million for a new White House visitors screening facility and $175 million for “investments to train USSS agents in the modern threat environment.”
Several GOP senators leaving the luncheon said the breakdown was too vague. They want to know more about how the money would be spent — and why it is needed now. 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 proposed the security costs.
“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.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned why all of the security improvements weren’t in Trump’s budget earlier this year. She said she asked for “a lot more data.”
Indiana Sen. Todd Young said he wants to be supportive, but “they need to go back and get us more detail about how exactly they arrived at the figures.”
Republicans have added the security money to a partisan spending bill that would restore funding for immigration enforcement agencies. The questions from within the party about the White House funding proposal could jeopardize the legislation, which GOP leaders are trying to pass without any Democratic votes.
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.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will push the Senate parliamentarian to strike the security money from the bill. They also plan to offer amendments that force Republicans to vote on the funding if it remains in the legislation.
“How many Americans want to see a billion dollars for a ballroom and not for the cost of child care and groceries?” Schumer said Tuesday.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also attended the Senate Republican lunch. Some of his Republican members have also expressed reservations about the $1 billion proposal.
As Democrats and some Republicans push back on the request, 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.
“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.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
