US Senate Republicans are planning to turn the political fight over funding for US President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom into an issue of the president’s safety, according to an Axios report on Tuesday.
The construction of the ballroom will reportedly cost US taxpayers $1 billion, despite Trump previously claiming that the project would use “no government funds” and be privately funded.
According to the Axios report, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, insisted that the funding is necessary to secure the ballroom facility and to guarantee that the Secret Service has sufficient resources to protect the president.
"You've got a president where there have been three assassination attempts in just the last two years," Thune said to reporters on Monday, adding that the funding is a “security-related matter.”
The most recent attempt on Trump’s life was made on April 26 during the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington DC.
The suspected shooter was able to run through a security checkpoint at the event while carrying a shotgun, a pistol, and knives, firing a shot at a Secret Service agent before being tackled and arrested.
Two sources told Axios that Secret Service director Sean Curran attended a Senate GOP lunch on Tuesday as the Senate considers potential security enhancements to the ballroom and funding for presidential security.
Secret Service to receive $500 million of ballroom budget
During lunch, the White House distributed a document containing a line-by-line breakdown of the $1 billion ballroom and renovation plan, which Axios saw and reviewed.
The document stated that $220 million would be allocated for “hardening” security at the White House, including adding bulletproof glass, drone-detection technology, and other threat-detection systems.
The Secret Service is set to receive $500 million, according to the Axios report. The funding is intended to be used for updating training for the “modern threat environment,” improving security for Secret Service protectees, and funding for their “work to counter drones, airspace incursions, unmanned systems, biological threats, and other emerging threats through investments in state-of-the-art technologies.”