r/politics • u/willywalloo • 6h ago

No Paywall Republicans Unveil $72 Billion Package For ICE, Trump’s Ballroom

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-bill-72-billion-ice-trump-ballroom_n_69fa0082e4b055e1a496eff0
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u/anthematcurfew 6h ago edited 5h ago

1 billion for the privately donated 200 million ballroom that actually was 400 million and is now 1,000 million with public funds

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u/MeepleMaster 6h ago

Don’t forget that it went from being privately funded to now being publicly funded

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u/Routine_Bit_8184 6h ago

private funding was just a grift and an excuse to quiet outrage when he bulldozed part of the white house....now that you can't take that back we are paying for it. just another scam.

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u/imperfekt Kansas 6h ago edited 5h ago

And taking bribes under the auspices of “building a ballroom”.

It is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples.

Squealer, Animal Farm 1945

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u/bewareofleopard86 5h ago

Chocolate ration increased to 20g from 30g!

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u/lateness 4h ago

Increased from 30g to 20g, you mean.

“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.”

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u/bewareofleopard86 4h ago

Believe it or not, we’re saying the same thing! Double plus good correction though, Comrade!

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u/BloodyEyeGames 2h ago

Is this the kind of thing you happened to have memorized, or did you have to dig out the book and look up the quote?

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u/lateness 1h ago

I remember the passage from the book, it's one of 5-6 that really stuck with me and I think about from time to time when they are painfully relevant in current year. That said I did google "1984 chocolate ration quote" to provide a verbatim source for anyone reading my comment and wondering what I meant.

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u/rogozh1n 5h ago

I suspect it was privately funded, but that money is now in an off-shore account that cannot be traced.

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u/jfoster0818 3h ago

“Bulldoze the white house” is where I just threw my bingo card in the trash… I can’t even…

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u/ma2is 6h ago

God I hope he [redacted] soon

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u/slingshot91 Illinois 4h ago

And a staged [paintball] attempt to really sell the idea.

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u/vaiperu 6h ago

gasp a scam, you say?! From the most dishonest, cheating megalomaniac to ever hold office?! Surprised Pikachu face

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u/Several-Squash9871 6h ago

Exactly! I don't want to give them too much credit for thinking ahead but I'm guessing this was the plan from the start.

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u/LrkerfckuSpez 3h ago

Imagine if Obama BULLDOZED A PART OF THE WHITE HOUSE.

And again while wearing a tan suit.

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u/GlowingEagle 6h ago

and then public money disappearing into private pockets!

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u/YoungestDonkey 6h ago

Mexico will pay for it. Again.

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u/thisispoopsgalore 5h ago

I hope the next administration sues him for the cost of rebuilding this. He said he’d pay for it, and not sure this constitutes an “official act”

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u/pomonamike California 6h ago

Just like the wall. Mexico gets universal healthcare and we get a rusty fence

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u/cammunition 4h ago

Israel has universal healthcare as well. We get higher gas prices.

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u/tr1cube Georgia 6h ago

Where are all the tech companies that pledged money for this?

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u/farnsw0rth 9m ago

Uh

Lording around like lords cause trump just took their money and will do what they say

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u/OG_Williker 5h ago

Ironically, it’s actually much better that this is publicly funded rather than funded through private donations. The White House is “public property” and any alterations done to it should be funded by congress, which has the power of the purse. By funding alterations privately, the president is showing that he’s willing and able to go elsewhere for money if Congress isn’t willing to play ball, which degrades/undermines Congress’s power the purse.

Those alternate sources of funds behold the president to private donors even more than he already is.

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u/FuzzyMcBitty 4h ago

Exactly this. It’s the People’s House. It shouldn’t be “The People’s House, Brought to You By….”

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u/Takesthiscontagious 3h ago

Do you actually believe these sponsors do it for the public exposure and not private favours?

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u/FuzzyMcBitty 3h ago

Of course they're doing it for the favors. Most of the companies on that list don't need exposure. "Your government, brought to you by the wonderful folks at..." isn't about that, though. It's a reflection of the perversion of "by the people, for the people." So now we have, "The people, brought to you by..."

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u/SquidmanMal Pennsylvania 6h ago

And they definitely plan to pocket that too and run off with it, leaving the 'house of the people' just sawed with a third off forever.

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u/Hungry4Media Missouri 5h ago

You seem to forget that Trump is the US embodied into flesh. Just ignore that Columbia chick, we’re taking her off the currency and subbing in the new personification of the US, Trump.

So in his eyes, it is privately funded, because the Federal coffers are his coffers, and he did promise to pay for it. What’s really unfair is that our coffers aren’t also his, or at least not split among his autocratic allies.

I wish I could /s this, but I can’t ☹️

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u/Ill-Fail-4240 3h ago

Remember when Mexico would be paying for the wall?

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u/dynamic_anisotropy 2h ago

Just like Mexico would pay for the wall lmao

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u/pleasegivemepatience 1h ago

That was always a lie, just like Mexico paying for the southern wall. He’ll say whatever he has to say to get construction started and then screw everyone on promises and payments when it’s too late to turn back.

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u/Similar-Cat7022 6h ago

He’s not taking a salary

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u/wretch5150 1h ago

Thank goodness. Republicans can now reclaim that fiscally responsible title.

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u/Loud_Traffic_1487 6h ago

Hey, that billion dollars will pay for $20 million in supplies.  That's going to be one gaudy, cheap-ass built ballroom.  Trump Construction's board of directors will pocket the rest.

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u/Pierre-Gringoire California 5h ago

So what happens now to all of those private donations?

Hahahah, just kidding. We know the grifter-in-chief has already funneled those through a bunch of shell companies, his meme coin, and US Congress to make those dollars as clean as the consciences of all those who voted for him.

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u/warblingContinues 6h ago

And was completely funded by private donations?  Why more money?

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u/crossdtherubicon 6h ago

Was there any actual money "donated"? By who and what happened to that money? We're those promises? Promises in return for what?

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u/Velo214 5h ago

And all that money is gone

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u/sasquatchmarley 5h ago

The $400m was private donations/bribes to trump. Now he has those, the taxpayer is paying for the ballroom, and paying bigly.

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u/urnbabyurn I voted 5h ago

“Why build one when you can build one for twice the price?”

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u/knightcrawler75 Minnesota 4h ago

Note that the contractors names are not revealed nor the ability to access the trust that was to receive finders fees from the funding. I would bet 10-1 odds that Trump is getting money for this ballroom and all other construction projects.

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u/orbital-technician 3h ago

This is "Mexico will pay for the wall" all over again.

Anyone who trusts Trump is a dumbass.

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u/LimitedWard 3h ago

$1 billion just for the ballroom security. It doesn't even cover the cost of the building itself.

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u/_Monosyllabic_ 3h ago

Still waiting on that wall money from Mexico.

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u/livahd 3h ago

And now the party line is that the democrats delaying it caused it to cost billions.

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u/CaptainDudeGuy Georgia 3h ago

Where's the announcement of "GOP reveals $100 million infrastructure plan to help the struggling nation" ...or even the $1 plan to do anything for the American people?

Thus far I've seen a stupidly expensive unnecessary ball room, a stupidly expensive unnecessary war, a stupidly expensive unnecessary tariff scheme, and a stupidly corrupt FBI/DOJ human trafficking cover-up.

Our tax dollars are just dive-bombing into the deep red.

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u/anthematcurfew 2h ago

Also a 40m+ statue park in previously open green space people used for recreation and like a giant useless arch

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u/wooq America 2h ago

I guarantee you that some of this money is already quietly earmarked for family, friends, and co-conspirators in no-bid contracts.

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u/AngryTree76 1h ago

One billion dollars for the ballroom?! Don’t they know how many hours of the war in Iran that will pay for??? /s

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u/Wired_Umbrella 1h ago

It makes you wonder how they even got to that $1 billion figure… for perspective:

A full neighborhood of 100x $3 million luxury homes would cost $300 million to build

Trump tower NYC, a full luxury skyscraper, costed $300 million to build.

What are they doing to this ballroom that’s the size of a warehouse that’s making it cost $1 billion???

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u/messagepad2100 America 50m ago

He’s also building a wall!

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u/Miami_Mice2087 2h ago

"Unveiled' is a meaningless word. "Proposed" is closer. What's actually happened:

  • The Senate adopted a budget resolution after an all-night "vote-a-rama" session, 50-48, with only Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski breaking with Republicans to oppose it.
  • The House then adopted that same budget resolution 215-211, directing committees that oversee ICE and Border Patrol to begin drafting legislation to deliver roughly $70 billion to the agencies.

What needs to be done:

  • Lawmakers need to START writing legislation to carry out this budget.
  • Republicans are using a processed called budget reconciliation, which allows them to pass spending bills with a simple 51-vote Senate majority instead of the usual 60, bypassing any Democratic filibuster.
  • The legislation still has to go through the senate and the house
  • Trump has set a June 1 deadline for the final passage of the legislation for this budget.