And speaking to reporters during a news conference Wednesday morning, Johnson reiterated that argument, saying it was a \u201cgross misstatement\u201d to claim the budget reconciliation bill funded the ballroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Secret Service put in an urgent request for additional security measures,\u201d said the House speaker. \u201cIt\u2019s not for the ballroom; it\u2019s for security measures.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a letter sent to congressional Republican leaders last week, Secret Service Director Sean Curran and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the $1 billion would be used for \u201cabove and below ground requirements\u201d in the East Wing construction project. In addition to the proposed ballroom, the new White House facilities would also include a drone-proof bunker built below ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cImportantly, as the legislative text makes explicit, none of these funds will be used to support non-security improvements at the White House,\u201d the administration officials told lawmakers.<\/p>\n
The budget reconciliation measure does bar the Secret Service from using any of the new spending on \u201cnon-security elements of the East Wing Modernization Project.\u201d But, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley has pointed out, the word \u201cballroom\u201d does not appear in the legislative text \u2014 and the measure does not address the Trump administration\u2019s longstanding argument that the ballroom itself is a security apparatus.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department has argued in federal court<\/a> that the bunker planned for beneath the East Wing can\u2019t serve its function without \u201can appropriate structure to shield and protect it.\u201d The administration has claimed that because the proposed ballroom will feature blast-proof windows and a missile-resistant construction it should be considered integrated with the bunker \u2014 and that the whole project advances \u201ccritical national security objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by Courthouse News how Congress should square the Trump administration\u2019s security claims with the language of the reconciliation bill, and whether lawmakers should explicitly block the president from using the $1 billion in funds for ballroom construction, Johnson on Wednesday punted to the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a pen in the Senate,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re writing the bill. We\u2019ll see what we get.\u2019<\/p>\n Johnson added that Trump had been \u201cabundantly clear\u201d he plans to build the proposed East Wing ballroom with private funding rather than taxpayer dollars, but that the Secret Service needs to \u201cthink differently about security\u201d as construction crews work on the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in a very dangerous time, and there are new and increasing threats that we have never faced before, so Congress has a role in funding that,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to see how it all works out.\u201d<\/p>\n