A Republican senator has gone on the record to state his opposition to funding President Donald Trump's ballroom project.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who finished last in a three-way GOP primary over the weekend after Trump endorsed a rival candidate, told reporters Tuesday that he would not vote for a $1 billion measure to fund security features for the East Wing project, reported Bloomberg.
“Right now, they don’t have a bid, they don’t have engineering, they don’t have architecture," Cassidy said. "I mean, they literally don’t have a bid. They just kind of made the number up. So from what I know now, I will not be voting for the ballroom funding.”
The senator's two Republican opponents, the Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) and state treasurer John Fleming, will face off next month in a runoff election after neither won a majority of Saturday's vote, but Cassidy lost his seat after the president targeted him for revenge after voting to convict him in the 2021 impeachment.
Trump also suffered a loss Saturday when the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the GOP bill to fund his ballroom violated Senate rules and could not pass with a simple majority, but Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) promised to revise the measure and submit it again.
Other Senate Republicans, including the retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), have voiced skepticism about the ballroom security funding measure, which the administration has requested to pay for security upgrades in the new East Wing.