Congress

Senate GOP could ditch Secret Service funding tied to White House ballroom

Published

1 month ago

May 19, 2026

President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom is on the brink of being ejected from the GOP’s fast-moving immigration enforcement bill.

Four Republican senators have raised public objections to spending taxpayer money on the project, possibly enough to kill it given the broad Democratic opposition. A larger group of Republicans is privately opposed to the funding, according to five people granted anonymity to disclose internal deliberations.

While one idea being discussed is reducing a $1 billion earmark for the Secret Service, some Republicans are privately pushing to simply remove the provision altogether from a bill that is otherwise focused on immigration enforcement, according to three of the people.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday that, barring new information, he will not vote for funding related to the ballroom.

“They don’t have a bid, they don’t have engineering, they don’t have architecture. …They just kind of made that number up,” he said. “So from what I know now, I will not be voting for the ballroom fund.”

“I do not think the case has been made,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said about the possibility of funding the ballroom project.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “One billion in ballroom funding is just not going to fly, right? It’s just not going to fly.”

Their comments come after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told colleagues Monday that he would oppose the overall immigration enforcement bill this week if it includes the ballroom-related money.

He will support the bill, a spokesperson said, if the line item is removed.

Senate Republicans were already discussing how to revise the $1 billion provision for Secret Service security after the chamber’s parliamentarian ruled Saturday it did not comply with the strict rules governing the party-line budget reconciliation process.

Even if Senate Republicans manage to get it past their rulekeeper, leadership is still facing private concerns from a swath of members and have been talking with rank-and-file members about potential changes, as POLITICO first reported Thursday.

The administration, which told senators last week that about $220 million of the $1 billion could go toward “hardening” the East Wing project, held a briefing for some senators at the White House on Tuesday. Collins said she was not able to attend.

The White House and GOP leaders could seek to scale back the funding or insert guardrails, but time is scarce. The Senate is hoping to start voting on the package as soon as Wednesday, with both chambers hoping to approve it ahead of a weeklong Memorial Day recess.

“If there are legitimate, discrete pieces that are tied to the security, I think there is room for discussion, but my view of it is that the administration has just decided that they’re going to move through all of their priorities for Secret Service and some of the agencies just in this one … big, broad package,” Murkowski said.

Asked if she had heard from colleagues who share her feelings, she said, “I don’t think I’m alone.”

Removing the specific mention of the East Wing Modernization Project would be a blow to the White House, which is eager to get congressional approval for the security funding as it fights litigation challenging ballroom construction. The administration could argue in court that the funding amounts to approval for the project as a whole.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune pointed to Wednesday as a cutoff for Republicans to make a decision on the ballroom funding dilemma.

Asked if he had the votes to include East Wing security funding, he grimaced before adding that there are “ongoing conversations.”

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

3 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

11 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

14 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”