Story perspectives

GOP Cuts $1B Ballroom Funding, Limits $1.8B Weaponization Bill

5/21/2026

Summary

Story summary

Republican senators dropped the $1 billion White House ballroom security request from the immigration bill.
The Senate is preparing a version without ballroom funding and awaiting a vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said bill would be passed before Memorial Day as Senators John Kennedy and Thom Tillis criticized it for cost concerns.
Leaders plan to restrict the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying he will pass it.

History

Historical Context

Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in 1996, which President Bill Clinton signed and that took effect on April 1 1997, expanding border agents and imposing a 10-year re-entry ban. The act raised annual deportations to over 180,000, establishing a precedent of costly compromises; today Republican senators are again proposing major funding cuts to a new immigration bill, echoing the 1996 debate.

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Story summary

Republican senators dropped the $1 billion White House ballroom security request from the immigration bill.
The Senate is preparing a version without ballroom funding and awaiting a vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said bill would be passed before Memorial Day as Senators John Kennedy and Thom Tillis criticized it for cost concerns.
Leaders plan to restrict the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying he will pass it.

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