Schumer Says Democrats Will Use ‘Every Tool We Have’ Against Republicans’ Reconciliation Bill

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on May 11 laid out the Democratic floor strategy against the Republican reconciliation bill.

The measure would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, and provide $1 billion for Secret Service security tied to the White House East Wing Modernization project, the site of a new $400 million ballroom.

“Democrats will fight the Republicans’ reconciliation bill with every tool we have,” Schumer wrote in a letter to Senate Democrats on Monday morning about the roughly $72 billion package.

“We will bring Byrd Rule challenges. We will offer floor amendments. And we will force vote after vote to make the choice unmistakable: will Republicans vote to help American families—to lower costs, to restore savage health care cuts, to roll back cost-spiking tariffs—or will they vote to fund Trump’s gaudy ballroom?”

Schumer said in the letter that Democrats will challenge the ballroom security money under Senate rules and force Republicans to take multiple votes on amendments. Reconciliation bills need only a simple majority to pass, rather than the usual 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

The package would direct about $38.2 billion to ICE and roughly $26 billion to Customs and Border Protection through fiscal year 2029, plus $2.5 billion to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary’s office, $1.5 billion to the Justice Department, and $1 billion to the Secret Service for security related to the East Wing project, according to the text of the bill released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on May 4.

The Secret Service funds are designated for “security adjustments and upgrades,” including “above-ground and below-ground security features,” but the legislation specifies the money may not be used for non-security elements.

Republicans pushed the security provision after a man was charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the April 25 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton.

Schumer framed the bill as a referendum on Republican priorities heading into the November midterms.

“That is what today’s Republicans have become: Ballroom Republicans—asking working families to pay the price while Donald Trump pockets the perks,” Schumer wrote.

A Senate GOP aide, disagreeing with Schumer’s interpretation, told The Epoch Times in a call on Monday that the $1 billion is appropriated to the Secret Service for its overall operations, including for the new ballroom, and that the East Wing security funding is one component of a broader appropriation.

In a May 6 letter obtained by The Epoch Times, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Secret Service Director Sean Curran told congressional leaders that the $1 billion would address an “unprecedented increase in threats against the President and other public officials” and would fund Secret Service work beyond the East Wing project.

The letter said the threat environment for public officials has “reached a level not seen in decades,” citing the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, attempt on Trump’s life and the April 25 White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.

The letter said the funding would support five categories of Secret Service work: security upgrades at the East Wing project, increased protection for protectees, including at “frequently visited venues,” Secret Service training and training facilities, work countering drones and biological threats, and security at high-profile national events. Mullin and Curran described the $1 billion as “a critical infusion to ensure the safety of the current President and future Presidents.”

While the letter describes five categories of Secret Service work, the bill text references only the East Wing Modernization Project. The legislation also prohibits using the funds for “non-security elements” of that project.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle praised the Secret Service funding this past week, saying the proposal would “provide the United States Secret Service with the resources they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS.”

Some Republicans have raised questions about the Secret Service provision. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) told The Associated Press that he wanted more information before deciding whether to back it.

“I want to know the exact nature of the expenditures that would go there for security. So I think it’s a little premature to look at that and say, you know, yes or no to it,” Wittman said.

The White House has said the ballroom itself will cost about $400 million and that private funds will pay for it.

The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are tentatively scheduled to mark up their portions of the bill on May 19, with floor consideration the week of May 18.

Republicans turned to reconciliation after Senate Democrats blocked funding for ICE and the Border Patrol through the regular appropriations process beginning in mid-February.

Democrats had demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in Minnesota earlier this year. Congress passed bipartisan legislation to reopen the rest of the Department of Homeland Security on April 30 after a record-long shutdown.

Schumer closed his letter by tying the floor fight to the November midterms.

“The American people are watching. And in November, they will be voting,” he wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.