AUBURN — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday that she doesn’t support President Donald Trump’s demands to include $1 billion for a new ballroom in a funding bill pending before the Senate.

Collins told reporters that she agrees that the Secret Service needs additional funding for security, but would like to see that request go through the normal appropriations process.

“The president has said that the new ballroom is going to be financed privately,” Collins said. “He should keep to that commitment.”

Collins spoke to reporters following a groundbreaking ceremony for a new public safety building in Auburn. That project benefited from a $2.5 million federal earmark from the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Collins chairs.

It’s the first time Collins has directly weighed in on the ballroom debate. Earlier this month, she said she was still reviewing the matter when asked by the Press Herald about it.

Collins’ response could provoke Trump, who is leaning on Republicans for the funding ahead of a hotly contested midterm election cycle.

Trump pushed to include taxpayer funds for a new 90,000 square-foot ballroom on the East Wing of the White House in a budget bill related to immigration enforcement.

But that proposal was blocked by the Senate parliamentarian, who said it did not meet the strict rules for reconciliation, a mechanism that allows funding bills to be passed with only a majority vote. (Normally, measures before the Senate require 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.)

Trump responded by saying the parliamentarian should be fired. But his proposal drew bipartisan rebukes from both chambers of Congress, raising questions about whether he had enough votes to pass it.

Collins also criticized the U.S. Department of Justice’s creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” That fund was created to settle Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service for improperly releasing his tax returns in 2020.

The fund has angered members of both parties. Some, including Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, called it a “slush fund” that would be used to benefit Trump’s allies, including people who assaulted Capitol Police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021 riots.

Trump pardoned most of those convicted early in his second term.

Collins questioned Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the fund at an appropriations committee hearing last week.

The senator told reporters Thursday that she also questioned Blanche at a private Republican caucus.

“I was the first Republican senator to speak out and question the anti-weaponization fund in the Department of Justice,” Collins said. “I made very clear that that was something I could not support.”