By Lindsay Wise, Ken Thomas and Marianne LeVine

WASHINGTON -- President Trump risks losing his grip on Senate Republicans, following an intense retribution campaign to punish critics and reward allies that has also sown anger among GOP lawmakers headed into what is expected to be a difficult midterm election for their party.

In a clear sign of the growing tensions, Senate Republicans said Wednesday that they don't have the votes to preserve $1 billion in funding tied to Trump's planned White House ballroom, part of a critical package funding immigration enforcement. Republicans are aiming to pass $70 billion in multiyear funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol by the end of the month .

"I'm told the votes are not there," said Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.). Asked whether Trump has antagonized some Republican senators with his aggressive efforts to oust them or their colleagues in primaries, Kennedy said he doesn't know what's in others lawmakers' heads and hearts, "but I think a fair-minded person would say the circumstance you described sure isn't making it easier."

Some Republicans have balked at the idea of using taxpayer dollars for anything tied to Trump's ballroom project at a time when many Americans are grappling with high prices for gas and other daily essentials, several months into Trump's war with Iran.

The funding fight shows the risks of Trump's revenge campaign. While the president has made clear he can make or break the career of any Republican in Congress, he is also creating a class of vanquished lawmakers still in office. Republicans and aides on Capitol Hill have begun referring to a new "YOLO caucus" of outgoing senators who have little left to lose in bucking Trump.

"I think it goes back to the old, 'Be careful what you wish for,'" quipped Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), who is retiring after Trump made clear he wanted him gone.

Tillis said it could now be harder for Republicans to pass some measures that require near-unanimous GOP support, such as the ballroom funding provision, which he opposes. "I think there will be fewer political calculations going into people's decision-making process, so probably," he said.

The strong pushback from the Senate came a day after Trump stunned Republicans by endorsing Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton over sitting Republican Sen. John Cornyn for not being sufficiently loyal. The Senate GOP's campaign arm had endorsed Cornyn, and Republicans senators said the decision to endorse the scandal-plagued Paxton could weaken them in the midterms.

Trump played down GOP senators' concerns. "They'll be all right with it, " Trump said Wednesday. "Some of them don't know how to win. I know how to win. I think I've proven that, haven't I?"

Over the weekend, Trump successfully ended the career of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted more than five years ago to convict the president in his second impeachment trial. And on Tuesday, Trump felled his biggest GOP irritant in Congress: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

On Tuesday, Cassidy for the first time voted with Democrats to successfully advance a war-powers resolution designed to rein in Trump's military actions in Iran. He also said that he opposes the ballroom funding.

"There's always a consequence associated with, you know, taking on incumbent United States senator," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.), who sighed when a reporter asked him Wednesday whether Trump's "revenge tour" risks diminishing support for the party's agenda among Republicans lawmakers.

"He obviously has his favorites and people he wants to endorse, and that's his prerogative. But what we have to deal with up here is moving the agenda, and you know, obviously that can become slightly more complicated," Thune said.

Trump has also taken other steps that make Republicans uncomfortable. On Monday, the federal government agreed to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim to have been victims of so-called weaponization by the government, a move that could lead to payouts to Trump allies. Trump's agreement with the federal government expanded Tuesday to end all pending tax audits of him and his businesses, according to a document posted by the Justice Department.

The news on the ballroom came several days after the Senate's parliamentarian found that the $1 billion measure doesn't qualify for a special process that allows measures to pass with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes typically required under the chamber's filibuster rule. Republicans indicated they plan to revise the wording, but by Wednesday it was clear GOP senators believed they didn't have 50 votes either.

Wednesday morning, Trump lashed out at the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, and suggested she be ousted, while also calling again for the Senate to end the 60-vote rule altogether. That rule has blocked Republicans from passing the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Kennedy, however, said MacDonough wasn't to blame on the ballroom funding. "This one is not the parliamentarian's fault...it's the votes aren't there, plainly and simply," the senator said. "Sometimes you have to reorganize, retreat, rethink your position, and that's my understanding of where we are."

Trump and allies have maintained that the ballroom -- which had drawn opposition from Democrats over its planned size and the lack of congressional consultation -- is being funded by private donors supplemented by needed security enhancements.

About $200 million of the $1 billion total would be designated for the "East Wing modernization project," including above- and below-ground "hardening" of the ballroom, according to a cost breakdown shared with Republicans senators. The rest would go toward training, visitor-screening facilities and other Secret Service priorities.

Trump took reporters to the ballroom construction site on Tuesday morning to show the progress. He said the site would include drone defense capabilities, a military hospital, a research facility and other national security measures and meeting rooms.

Marc Short, a former White House director of legislative affairs during Trump's first term, said in light of the Senate dynamics, he expected that "things pretty much come to a halt now" and little of significance gets passed until after the election.

"What is unclear to me is whether Trump cares. I think he's still in a burn-it-down mode," Short said. "I don't think they're going to know the true cost of this until November."

Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com, Ken Thomas at ken.thomas@wsj.com and Marianne LeVine at marianne.levine@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 20, 2026 14:04 ET (18:04 GMT)

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