Seven Republican senators joined Democrats on Thursday in a failed effort to block construction of President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-built East Wing ballroom unless Congress approves it first. The amendment fell 53-46, even after the bipartisan split gave opponents a brief opening to rein in the White House State Ballroom fight on the Senate floor.
The senators who backed the measure were Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Jerry Moran, Dan Sullivan, Thom Tillis, Jon Husted and Bill Cassidy. Their votes were enough to spotlight the political strain around the project, but not enough to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome the procedural threshold and force the restriction into law.
The amendment was attached to the GOP’s $70 billion immigration enforcement bill and would have barred the use of federal funds and private donations to build the ballroom without congressional approval. That detail mattered because Republicans had initially tried to use the same bill for $220 million in ballroom security funding before stripping the money out under pressure and the rules of the filibuster-skirting reconciliation process.
The vote also showed that the ballroom issue was already pulling at Republican ranks beyond a single amendment. Earlier on Thursday, Collins, Husted and Sullivan had broken with their party on another measure aimed at thwarting the creation of the Justice Department’s anti-weaponization fund, a sign that the day’s fights were not isolated to one project or one spending question.
Schumer framed the debate as a test of priorities, saying Trump had fought for his ballroom harder than he has fought to lower costs and that Congress should be a check on Trump’s corruption. Cassidy, meanwhile, received consent to change his position in favor of the amendment after the vote had closed, an unusual procedural wrinkle that did not alter the final result.
For now, the outcome leaves the ballroom project without congressional blessing and without the restriction opponents wanted, a split result that keeps the next step unresolved. Whether Trump will seek formal approval for the East Wing ballroom, or proceed without it, remains the open question after Thursday’s 53-46 vote.
