WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Republican senators left a meeting with the director of the U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday saying they need more details on a , including a proposed $220 million to secure President Donald Trump鈥檚 new East Wing .
Secret Service Director Sean Curran attended the closed-door party lunch and talked through the request as a number of Republicans have questioned it in recent days. According to a handout he gave to senators obtained by The Associated Press, the $220 million would go to harden the ballroom addition, including 鈥渂ulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other threat filtration and detection systems, and a host of other national security functions.鈥�
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 鈥渋nvestments to train USSS agents in the modern threat environment.鈥�
The Secret Service request comes after a man was at the White House Correspondents Association dinner last month. Trump has said repeatedly that the ballroom construction would be paid for with $400 million in private funds, but the White House hadn鈥檛 previously disclosed their budget for security costs.
Republican senators have said they are supportive of a boost in security for the president, but several said that Curran’s breakdown was too vague 鈥� and they want to know more about how the money would be spent.
鈥淚 want more information,鈥� said Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a close ally of the president. 鈥淚 ran companies, okay? If somebody came to me and said they were going to spend a billion dollars on something, I鈥檇 get more detail.鈥�
GOP pushback could endanger immigration enforcement funding
Republicans have added the security money to a partisan spending bill that would restore funding for immigration enforcement agencies after Democrats have blocked that funding since February. 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.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned why all of the security improvements weren鈥檛 in Trump鈥檚 budget released by the White House earlier this year. She said she asked for 鈥渁 lot more data.鈥�
Indiana Sen. Todd Young said he could be supportive of “a certain measure of ballroom funding, which I think is defensible, but they need to go back and get us more detail about how exactly they arrived at the figures.鈥�
The information provided to the senators was 鈥渂road categories,鈥� Young said.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Monday that he believes the funding should be private. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 still my preference,鈥� he said, adding that Congress had also increased the Secret Service budget after another attempted assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the 2024 campaign.
鈥淲as it spent wisely? Do they really need more at this time?鈥� Paul asked.
Secret Service cites ‘evolving threats’ in funding request
Beyond the White House improvements, the Secret Service said it is requesting $175 million for 鈥渆nhancements for protectee security,鈥� $150 million for 鈥渆volving threats and technology,鈥� including countering drones and airspace incursions, and $100 million for security at high profile 鈥渆vents of national significance.鈥�
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.
鈥淗ow many Americans want to see a billion dollars for a ballroom and not for the cost of child care and groceries?鈥� 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鈥檚 possible Republicans will approve the entire request once they have more details.
鈥淚 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,鈥� Rounds said.
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This story has been updated to correct the last name of the Secret Service director. It is Curran, not Callan.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
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