Trump pressures GOP to remove Elizabeth MacDonough after her $1B WH ballroom funding block
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump is reportedly pressuring Senate Republicans to fire the Senate parliamentarian after a key ruling blocked GOP attempts to rapidly pass funding for a planned White House ballroom project.
The dispute centers on a recent decision by Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough that GOP proposals linked to funding for ballroom security cannot proceed through the Senate's budget reconciliation process.
Trump pressures GOP after Senate blocks ballroom funding plan
According to reports, Trump has privately urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune to remove MacDonough after she ruled against the proposed funding mechanism.
🚨 NOW: The Senate Parliamentarian has just unilaterally STRUCK DOWN President Trump's ballroom Secret Service security funding from the GOP reconciliation bill
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 17, 2026
By decree, Elizabeth MacDonough is requiring 60 votes for the upgrades, not 50+1.
ABSOLUTELY UNREAL!!
Thune can… pic.twitter.com/eWVwGvwJUD
While Thune did not confirm whether Trump had “asked him to oust MacDonough,” he explained that he would not fire her.
Thune explained that the Senate was “going through a process” they deal with each time they “have a reconciliation bill.”
“We’re going through a process that we go through every time we have a reconciliation bill, and the people on both sides are mad at the parliamentarian,” Thune said.
Republicans had attempted to include roughly $1 billion in security-related funding connected to the White House ballroom project within a broader immigration and border security reconciliation package.
MacDonough had warned that the Republican plan to provide $1 billion in funding for the ballroom “would be subject to a 60-vote threshold if it were to remain in the legislation.”
Trump then reportedly called Thune to share his thoughts after MacDonough issued a ruling “that the money couldn’t get a vote under the strict rules of budget reconciliation.”
GOP faces backlash after Senate blocks Trump ballroom funding plan
The parliamentarian’s ruling immediately sparked frustration among some Trump allies, who believe Senate procedural rules have repeatedly slowed Republican priorities despite the party holding congressional majorities.
The ballroom has been a pet project for the president, who boasted last September that it would be “absolutely magnificent construction” and “one of the best anywhere in the world,” but it has sparked significant controversy, chiefly over Trump’s broken promise that the construction “won’t interfere with the current building” and would be “near [the East Wing] but not touching it.”
Very soon after Trump made that statement, the facade was demolished, followed by another major section, and eventually the East Wing was demolished in its entirety.
Democrats, meanwhile, have criticized the proposal as an inappropriate use of taxpayer resources, particularly after Trump previously indicated private donors would help finance major portions of the ballroom project.
The budget reconciliation bill, which Republicans are pushing forward on a party-line vote, includes $1 billion in funding for the Secret Service, with several hundred million dollars dedicated to “modernization” and security upgrades tied to the ballroom project.
However, the plan hit a snag when Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined that budget rules blocked the $1 billion from being included in the bill.
Despite the setback, Republicans have signaled they still intend to move forward with legislation connected to the ballroom and related security upgrades.
