Unelected Senate parliamentarian rejects GOP reconciliation to fund White House ballroom

The Senate parliamentarian struck down Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill that would provide $1 billion in funding for the Secret Service and the White House, including President Trump’s planned ballroom.

Elizabeth MacDonough was appointed Senate Parliamentarian in 2012 under Barack Obama and ruled that the funding could not be accepted as written under the budget reconciliation rules, Fox News Digital reported.

Many Republicans saw it coming, including Ryan Wrasse, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

“Redraft. Refine. Resubmit. None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” Wrasse wrote on X.

This ruling undermines efforts to approve the funding with a simple majority vote as part of a larger, roughly $72 billion package centered primarily on immigration enforcement. The move comes after Democrats pushed those budgetary measures amid the longest government shutdowns in U.S. history, Fox reported.

MacDonough determined that the security funding provision is subject to chamber rules requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation, according to the office of Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

Merkley appears ready to strike down a revised version of the bill.

“While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill,” he said.

The $1 billion bill was also questioned by several Senate Republicans days before MacDonough’s ruling.

“It was one thing when private dollars were building it,” Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) told Fox News Digital before a closed-door briefing with Secret Service Director Sean Curran. “If you’re asking me for a billion dollars, I have some really hard questions.”

Meanwhile, MAGA supporters fumed over the ruling:

🚨 NOW: The Senate Parliamentarian has just unilaterally STRUCK DOWN President Trump’s ballroom Secret Service security funding from the GOP reconciliation bill

By decree, Elizabeth MacDonough is requiring 60 votes for the upgrades, not 50+1.

ABSOLUTELY UNREAL!!

Thune can… pic.twitter.com/eWVwGvwJUD

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 17, 2026

Thune has become our enemy. Trump needs to pick up the phone and have a discussion with that quisling.

— SocialismsEnemy (@SocialismsEnemy) May 17, 2026

She’s a partisan Leftist Democrat appointed by Harry Reid and John Thune weakly allows her to still hold her job.

Thune is the worst GOP Inc. POS majority leader in modern history.

— LegioInvictus (@LegioInvictus24) May 17, 2026

So it’s OK to have a partisan Parliamentarian no one voted for. Why should she have a say in what is done at the WH? I just don’t understand all this. It feels like cheating. All they do is oppose Trump. I’m sick of them all.

— MoMo (@mo1532372) May 17, 2026

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