The Senate parliamentarian determined that a proposal to fund $1 billion for White House security cannot be included as written.

Hundreds of millions of dollars for securing the White House ballroom cannot be included in a Republican spending bill as currently written, the Senate parliamentarian ruled Saturday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s proposed immigration enforcement bill includes $1 billion for security measures related to what the administration calls the “East Wing Modernization Project” — which includes President Donald Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom — and other presidential protection efforts.

The project would require the coordination of multiple government agencies and therefore requires oversight from multiple committees, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee.

The ballroom project has been a major priority for Trump, who has invoked it more frequently than other policy priorities this year, and a major target for Democrats, who have criticized GOP leaders for attempting to secure funding for the project.

“Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom. Senate Democrats fought back — and blew up their first attempt,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement following the parliamentarian’s ruling.

Trump has repeatedly said that his planned $400 million ballroom would be entirely funded by private donations. Administration officials and congressional Republicans had also said that the $1 billion in the Senate spending bill would not go toward the ballroom itself, but related security measures and other protections for the president.

Secret Service Director Sean Curran told lawmakers this week that the agency planned to use $220 million of those funds for “hardening” the ballroom above and below ground, including bulletproof glass and drone and chemical detection systems.

The rest would be used for other White House security measures, he argued, including $180 million for a new White House visitor screening facility, $175 million each for training Secret Service agents and enhancing “protectee security,” $150 million to counter “emerging threats” such as biological weapons and airspace incursions, and $100 million for securing high-profile national events.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) on Saturday said they would tweak the bill to meet the requirements.

“Redraft. Refine. Resubmit,” spokesman Ryan Wrasse wrote on X.

“None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” he added, invoking the rule, named after former senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), that shapes the review process used in certain types of spending bills.

It’s the second blow to Republicans’ plan to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the rest of Trump’s term through reconciliation, a legislative tool that would allow them to approve the funding without Democratic support.

On Thursday night, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that portions of the bill could not be included in the final spending package because they did not comply with the strict protocols guiding the reconciliation process, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee.

The proposed reconciliation bill includes $38.2 billion for ICE, $26 billion for CBP, $1.5 billion for the Justice Department, and $5 billion for other border security, immigration and law enforcement efforts.

The parliamentarian ruled that funding for CBP is outside of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s jurisdiction and that funding for screening unaccompanied migrant children violates protections for noncitizen children, according to Senate Democrats. The parliamentarian also determined that the $2.5 billion for immigration provisions under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act violates reconciliation rules.

Schumer and other Democrats cheered Saturday night’s decision, calling it a victory for taxpayers over frivolous spending and mocking “ballroom Republicans” for their efforts to support the project.

“Americans don’t want a ballroom. They don’t need a ballroom. And they sure as hell should not be forced to pay for one,” Schumer said in his statement.

Some congressional Republicans have been skeptical about the administration’s request, fearing the measure could be politically damaging as high gas prices strain the party’s reputation on economic issues.

Republican leaders have argued the funding is needed to bolster White House security in the wake of another assassination attempt against Trump at the White House correspondents’ dinner last month.

“There have been three attempted assassinations just in the last two years,” Thune said earlier this month. “Obviously, the money that’s in there is about securing that building. The Secret Service has a job: to defend and protect the president. And we need to make sure they have the tools to do it.”

Democrats plan to hammer Republicans over the funding if it remains in the bill.

“I think it’ll be amongst the most politically toxic votes that Republicans will take in this two-year period of time,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) said in a brief interview. “Everybody knows about the ballroom. Everybody thinks it stinks to high heaven. And it’s become kind of a proxy for the broader corruption.”