About 20% of the $1 billion in Secret Service funds included in Republicans’ budget bill is expected to go to securing the White House’s East Wing project, Majority Leader
Senate Republicans are aiming to vote next week on reconciliation legislation to spend billions funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol after a stalemate with Democrats. The bill includes as much as $1 billion to make security improvements tied to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran is meeting Tuesday with Senate Republicans to discuss the funding. Ahead of that meeting, Thune estimated that about $200 million will go to East Wing security.
“The balance of it is just going to other Secret Service priorities and technology and things they need to do to protect the president,” Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters.
Curran is expected to provide senators more details about the funding after some Republicans have expressed skepticism about the ballroom costs.
“We’ll hear him out today,” Thune said. “I think there’s a substantive reason why this makes sense.”
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