Republicans could abandon $1bn proposal for Trump’s ballroom – US politics live

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Senate Republicans could strip Donald Trump’s lavish White House ballroom complex from the Department of Homeland Security funding bill after members queried the timing and lack of detail in the $1bn Secret Service request.

Facing pressure from the Trump administation, Republicans have tried to add the money to a roughly $70bn bill to restore funding to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.

However, the security proposal met with backlash from some GOP lawmakers who are questioning the cost and how the taxpayer dollars would be used, AP reported. While the bill’s text has yet to be released, the Senate hopes to pass it this week and send it to the House before leaving for a week-long Memorial Day recess.

The dispute comes as Senate majority leader John Thune acknowledged “ongoing vote issues” on Wednesday with leaders attempting to measure Republican support, as well as “ongoing parliamentarian issues” as they try to figure out what will be allowed in the bill under the chamber’s rules.

“There’s always a consequence with taking on United States senators,” Thune said. “[The president] obviously has his favorites and people he wants to endorse and that’s his prerogative. But what we have to deal with up here is moving the agenda, and obviously that can become slightly more complicated.”

Republican senator John Kennedy said on Wednesday that the bill would be “back to square one” without the security money because “the votes are not there.”

Meanwhile, senator Thom Tillis said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea” because he does not think there is enough backing to pass it, even if the cost were reduced. Axios reported recently that Tillis would not support the bill if it is considered this week.

Democrats have criticized Republicans for trying to fund Trump’s ballroom when voters are concerned about basic affordability issues.

In other developments:

• The US issued a federal criminal indictment against Raúl Castro, Cuba’s former president, potentially paving the way for a US military raid to capture him.

• Two police officers attacked by rioters at the US Capitol during the January 6 riot sued Donald Trump over plans to create a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund.

• Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican congressman from a Philadelphia-area district carried by Kamala Harris in 2024, pledged on Wednesday to “try to kill” the $1.776bn slush fund created by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice this week, which could be used to compensate rioters who tried to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.

• Republican senator Bill Cassidy denounced two of Trump’s passion projects: $1bn in taxpayer funding for the White House ballroom the president can’t stop talking about, and the $1.776bn slush fund he plans to use to reward supporters who stormed the Capitol to try to keep him in office despite losing the 2020 election.

• A former federal prosecutor in Florida pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that she illegally emailed herself a copy of the unreleased special counsel report on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.