GOP Ballroom and ICE Bill Would Add $72 Billion To Deficit

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

May 6, 2026, 11:23 AM EDT


WASHINGTON — The budget package Senate Republicans unveiled late Monday to fund federal immigration enforcement and President Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom will increase deficits by nearly $72 billion over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO issued its estimate a day after the GOP released a spending package stuffed with tens of billions of dollars for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, billions more for Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement and an astounding $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom plan, a vanity project he wants to build in place of the former East Wing, which he demolished last year.

The $72 billion estimate mirrors the level of spending in the Republican package. The amount added to the deficit jumps to about $94 billion when you factor in interest, says the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. In its analysis of the GOP package, CRFB notes the legislation’s “lack of guardrails” over when this money is appropriated, which could mean billions of dollars in taxpayer money is spent more quickly than anticipated by agencies like ICE or CBP, which would create a demand for still more money.

“Of further concern,” CRFP states, “at least $7.5 billion of the total … appears to be above and beyond normal appropriations.”. It points to the package’s $5 billion for DHS to use at its discretion, $1.5 billion for the attorney general to use at his discretion and the $1 billion set aside for the Secret Service to use for vague security measures related to Trump’s ballroom project.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-ballroom-ice-72-billion-deficit_n_69fb534ae4b01c0d1112f7df?origin=home-latest-news-unit

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Link to CBO REPORT - CBO Scores FY 2026 Reconciliation at $72 Billion

REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143648100
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143653902
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143654231
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143655185


When Congress does "Budget Reconciliation" legislation, where it's a framework document (for up to 10 years) that would have numbers plugged in, they have the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) "score" it for costs.

There are 3 types available - "taxes" (revenue), "spending" (outlays), and "debt" (debt ceiling). EACH type can ONLY be used ONCE during a fiscal year (Oct. 1 - Sep.30). These can be done singly or in a combo of 2 types or all 3 (but you can't do something like 3 "spending" ones in a fiscal year). And they must be budget-related, meaning no "policy" stuff stuck on (er the Byrd Rule).

For the "spending" type, they are looking to see whether it increases the deficit (like this would do per the OP article), which is a no-no when using this process. In fact the last paragraph at the above link notes this -

(snip)

To avoid potential increases in the debt and put a down payment on deficit reduction, policymakers should remove extraneous provisions from the bill and fully offset the funding in this bill. They should also put in place discretionary spending caps that account for this mandatory spending and work to further reduce deficits.

For the GOP, "offset" means doing Muskrat-level slashing of programs to make up for the wasteful spending on bullshit ballrooms and arches.

[Lovie777]

1. Dems take congress...................

I'm thinking a lot of this can be overturned...........

shithole claims that US can't afford healthcare, child care, public education, but we can pay for his fucked up ballroom.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. He would just veto it and we wouldn't have enough to override.

[Stargazer99]

3. Republicans whine about the public debt when Demos are in but spend like a drunk when they control the budget

No wonder Trump loves the poor and undereducated...they are easier to fool

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. GOP offers $1B for White House security, sparking dispute over ballroom (according to trump-this covers entire ballroom)

Senate Republicans maintain their proposal would authorize security construction, but not Trump’s ballroom. The White House disagrees.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/05/senate-budget-bill-trump-ballroom

Senate Republicans late Monday proposed $1 billion to pay for new White House security measures, with lawmakers and White House officials disagreeing over whether the legislation would cover President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom.

The proposed legislative text says the money would be used for both aboveground and underground security features that the administration has declined to fully detail. The text explicitly says the money could not be used for “non-security elements” of the project, a reference to Trump’s planned ballroom.....

White House officials said Tuesday that the legislation, if enacted, would authorize the entire project — including the aboveground ballroom.

“Congress has rightly recognized the need for these funds,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement, citing the high-profile incident last month when a gunman stormed through the security checkpoint outside the White House correspondents’ dinner. “The proposal would provide the United States Secret Service with the resources they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS.”.....

Trump has argued that the ballroom itself is a needed national security measure so he and future presidents can safely entertain VIP guests, a message increasingly echoed by his allies in Congress after last month’s incident. Justice Department officials last week asked Leon to dissolve his order blocking construction, citing the shooting at the correspondents’ dinner in a rambling legal filing that read like one of Trump’s Truth Social posts.....

Democrats argued Tuesday that the proposal illustrates that Republicans are out of touch with voters’ needs, highlighting the broadly unpopular ballroom. Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to tear down the White House’s East Wing to make way for his planned ballroom, funded by about $400 million in private donations, while 28 percent support the project, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted last month.

[homegirl]

5. Did Marie meet her end at the guillotine?

Donald Trump has a Marie Antoinette complex, to say the least. "What he's doing is trailer park trash, that's what Trump is. And, in the end, when he's gone, all of it's going. It must. And no candidate running for president stands a chance without this position."

[Martin68]

6. Trum'ps "cost cutting" is the bomb!