A group of six Republican senators broke with their party and sided with Democrats in support of an amendment aimed at preventing construction of President Donald Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom without explicit approval from Congress.
The proposal, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), sought to place authority for the ballroom project solely in the hands of Congress. It also would have prohibited the use of federal funds or private donations for the project unless lawmakers first signed off on it.
The six Republicans who voted with Democrats to overcome a procedural hurdle were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The amendment was offered during the Senate’s vote-a-rama on the Republican reconciliation package focused on immigration enforcement funding. To move forward, it needed 60 votes to defeat a point-of-order challenge.
The measure ultimately fell short, failing by a vote of 52-47.
Several of the Republicans who supported the amendment are facing difficult political battles ahead of the November elections.
A recent Fox News survey of 1,015 registered Ohio voters, conducted between May 28 and June 1, found Husted trailing former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio’s Senate contest.
In Maine, a UMASS Lowell/YouGov poll of 650 likely voters conducted between May 13 and May 26 showed Democratic challenger Graham Platner ahead of Collins by a margin of 48 percent to 43 percent.
Meanwhile, an Alaska Survey Research poll conducted in March among 1,283 registered voters found Democratic candidate Mary Peltola leading Sullivan in a potential Senate matchup.
Earlier this week, Senate Republicans removed language from the revised reconciliation bill that would have provided up to $1 billion in federal funding for the ballroom project. The revised legislation was released by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The original version of the budget package had included as much as $1 billion for security improvements at the White House and the proposed ballroom. That funding provision sparked significant resistance from Republican senators, prompting its removal from the final Senate draft.
{Matzav.com}