WASHINGTON — Republican senators, normally eager to back President Donald Trump’s agenda with little questioning, are uneasy about allocating a billion dollars for Trump’s new ballroom at the White House.

Shelling out $1 billion for a gilded event space at a time when voters are furious about the economy strikes some as bad politics. Trump previously said the ballroom would be funded by private donations.

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) said he supports the ballroom project, but the public cost is a bit much.

“I can’t get my hands around the fact that a lot of people are really hurting, and they see a billion dollars, and a billion dollars is an awful, awful, awful lot of money,” Justice told HuffPost. “To think that it’s going to cost a billion dollars — I mean, that’s a thousand millions.”

As part of a bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Senate Republicans included $1 billion for the Secret Service “for the purposes of security adjustments and upgrades, including within the perimeter fence of the White House Compound to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project” — a euphemism for Trump’s ballroom project, which began with him tearing down the historic East Wing of the White House.

Trump demolished the East Wing during last year’s government shutdown with no public notice to make way for the big event space he claims the White House needs. Federal courts have held up the project, saying it requires congressional authorization. Hence, the ballroom bill.

Secret Service Director Sean Curran briefed Republican senators on the funding request Tuesday, telling them only 20% of the $1 billion would actually go to the ballroom.

“Most of it’s going to be used for other purposes, training facilities, for technology, lots of other things that law enforcement, particularly in this case, Secret Service, needs to ensure that they keep our president and other top officials safe,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters.

Some Republicans have complained they don’t understand what all the money’s for. The legislative text doesn’t say anything about training facilities, for instance, or “technology.”

“It’s for security, supposedly, I don’t know exactly. Nobody’s broken it down yet,” Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told HuffPost before the briefing.

Some senators came out of the Secret Service meeting unsatisfied.

“They need to go back and get us more details about exactly how they arrived at the figure,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told reporters.

The figure may have more to do with the court case and Senate procedure than the actual cost of construction. The ballroom is catching a ride on an ICE funding bill Republicans are passing through an arcane process known as budget reconciliation. The process allows Republicans to pass legislation with 50 votes in the Senate instead of the usual 60, meaning they can bypass Democrats.

“To think that it's going to cost a billion dollars — I mean, that's a thousand millions.”

The budget process forbids “extraneous matter,” including things that are strictly policy questions with no budgetary effect, meaning they don’t cost or raise money. It’s up to the Senate’s parliamentarian to decide whether the “preponderance” of a given provision has a budget impact, and each case is basically a judgment call. But if Republicans wanted to just put a line in their bill declaring their authorization for the ballroom, the parliamentarian would probably be more skeptical than if there were a chunk of money attached.

“Reconciliation always has to deal with the expenditure of money or taxing,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Secret Service, told HuffPost.

Asked if Republicans are talking about striking the ballroom from their legislation altogether, Grassley said maybe.

“That’s what’s going on right now. So you’ll have to ask me that question at the end of this week,” he said.

Asked if he liked the ballroom, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told HuffPost: “It’s not my favorite thing.”

Democrats are hammering Republicans for backing the ballroom, which was wildly unpopular even when Trump claimed it would be built with private donations instead of taxpayer funds.

“Ask Americans how many people want to see a billion dollars for a ballroom and no money to help reduce the cost of food, the cost of electricity, the cost of housing, the cost of childcare,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor.

Schumer has vowed Democrats will force Republicans to take politically difficult amendment votes related to the ballroom during the budget process, and that Democrats will aggressively challenge the ballroom in meetings with the parliamentarian.

Though the White House has appealed U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s order halting the ballroom’s construction, it’s clear the legal challenge has some merit. Leon noted in his March order that Congress has authorized all prior White House upgrades and that federal law explicitly forbids major construction without congressional approval: “A building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.”

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.