Senate Republicans balk at $1B White House ballroom request: 'You made that number up'

"It was one thing when private dollars were building it," Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, said. "If you're asking me for a billion dollars, I have some really hard questions. If I were a businessman and an employee came and said, 'I have a project, and it's a billion dollars,' I'd say, 'You made that number up,' right? Like, where did the number come from?"

Curran's explanation wasn't enough for several Republicans, who left the meeting still wanting more detailed information on exactly how the funding, which is part of the broader reconciliation package meant for immigration enforcement, would be used.

"They need to go back and get us more details about exactly how they arrived at the figure," Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said afterward. 

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.

"What was clear today is this whole statement, 'It's a billion dollars for a ballroom.'
Anyone who prints that is printing something they know is a lie. That's not true," Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. "It's not a billion dollars for the ballroom." 


The entirety of the funding won't be going exclusively to enhancing security for Trump's colossal ballroom, so Republicans want more answers on how each dollar will be used. 

And they acknowledge that the price tag is a hard sell to make in the midst of growing economic issues across the country.

"The way I look at it, I look at it like a business guy," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. "So it's an investment, and it's gonna, you know, you have to explain to the American public, if you're gonna spend their money, how do you get a return?"

And there is an opportunity to cut the request down, which some Republicans suggested could be an option as they sprint to finish work on the broader $72 billion package.

Meanwhile, the funding request is a small piece in a broader package meant to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three and a half years through the budget reconciliation process. 

Whether the ballroom security and Secret Service funding actually stays in the package is an open question, given that the entire package will be reviewed under the Senate's strict Byrd Rule guidelines that dictate what can and can't make it into the reconciliation process.

And Democrats are planning to push hard against the security funding, arguing that the money would be better spent elsewhere on affordability issues.