By Ellis Kim, Lauren Fox, Manu Raju, CNN
(CNN) — Senate Republicans are looking to give the US Secret Service $1 billion to shore up security for President Donald Trump’s future White House ballroom, as part of a broader immigration enforcement package.
Two GOP-led Senate committees unveiled late Monday their roughly $70 billion package to fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol, which they plan to pass with only Republican votes.
The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are aiming to spend roughly $38 billion for ICE and around $26 billion for US Customs and Border Patrol functions and upgrades, according to legislative text released by the panels. The funding would run through the end of September 2029.
The Judiciary Committee also tucked in the additional $1 billion in Secret Service funding that could go toward Trump’s ballroom project.
The text allocates the cash for “security adjustments and upgrades … to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project, including above-ground and below-ground security features,” later stating the funding can’t be used for “non-security elements” of the project.
The Trump administration has long said the president would rely on money from private donors rather than American taxpayers, to fund his East Wing renovation.
But in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month, Republicans have grown increasingly vocal about the need for a White House ballroom, with some arguing that the public should foot some of the cost to aid construction.
“Congress has rightly recognized the need for these funds. Due in part to the recent assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, 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,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham demanded last week that the Senate vote on his separate bill to authorize $400 million for the ballroom, including a national security annex underground, after the shooting, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune didn’t indicate whether he would take up the legislation.
Asked about the prospect of using taxpayer money on the project, Sen. Katie Britt, who is backing Graham’s effort, argued at the time that “we need to make sure that we have oversight and do that responsibly,” and said the ballroom will mostly be for “future presidents” since it won’t be completed until further into Trump’s term.
The attack, the Alabama Republican told CNN, “kind of showed us where we are as a nation, and it’s not a good place. I mean, we have people that, instead of taking their fight to the ballot box, are taking their fight to people with bullets, and it’s fundamentally un-American.”
The committees are expected to mark up the immigration enforcement package after senators return next week from their recess away from Washington, keeping in step with congressional Republicans’ plans to fund Trump’s border and immigration priorities through a multi-step budgetary process, known as reconciliation, which allows them to bypass a Senate filibuster.
By Holly Yan, CNN
(CNN) — Investigators are scouring heavily wooded terrain to find an armed special forces veteran suspected of trying to kill his wife, Tennessee officials said.
Craig Berry has been on the run since early Friday morning, when he shot his wife in Dover, on the northwestern fringe of Tennessee near the Kentucky border, authorities say.
“The suspect fled into the woods near the residence before deputies arrived,” the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office said.
A warrant has been issued accusing Berry of second-degree attempted murder, the sheriff’s office said. Authorities have not revealed the wife’s current condition.
The arduous manhunt is especially challenging given the suspect’s outdoors skills.
“Berry is a retired special forces veteran and has extensive training in survival tactics,” the sheriff’s office posted Monday on Facebook.
“He is an excellent swimmer and diver, and is in good physical shape. He is armed with at least one handgun and is believed to have taken extra ammunition.”
A trail camera captured an image believed to be of Berry wearing camouflage clothing, investigators said.
“We are not ruling out the possibility that he has received some outside assistance after the incident,” the sheriff’s office said. “We have no information that he is no longer in the area.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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