GOP senator blocks resolution that criticized Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads
US Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming speaks to reporters outside of the Senate Chambers during a vote in the US Capitol Building on May 11 in Washington
By Morgan Rimmer, CNN
(CNN) — A GOP senator blocked a resolution on Tuesday that criticized the Trump administration’s recent taxpayer-funded ads promoting President Donald Trump.
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming objected to the Democrat-led measure, which stated that taxpayer funds should not have been used for the controversial ads.
The measure, from Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, slammed the administration for using government funds for the White House’s recent advertisements. “It is the sense of the Senate that the advertisements promoting President Donald Trump that aired in September 2026, which included the direct language ‘paid for by the U.S. Government,’ should not be paid for by the United States government,” it read.
Senators on both sides of the aisle have criticized the president for using taxpayer dollars for the ads. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Monday, “It’s a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” and retiring GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas added, “no” it’s not appropriate. “It’s not even a close question,” he said.
On the Senate floor on Tuesday, as she introduced her resolution, Hassan said, “The American people want their tax dollars to go towards helping them and keeping them safe, not propaganda campaigns for a president. He’s welcome to run whatever ads he wants with his own riches, but with taxpayer dollars, money that people have worked hard to earn, he needs to follow the law.”
Lummis echoed the White House’s own argument that the ads are comparable to public service announcements released during previous administrations, and are not campaign ads.
“Presidents of both parties have used public service announcements to speak directly to the American people for decades,” the Wyoming Republican said. “The message at the heart of these PSAs is a simple one: American values are worth defending against the failed ideologies of communism and socialism. If that is what has the senator from New Hampshire concerned, I’d suggest the concern says more about her side of the aisle than it does about the PSA.”
One recently released taxpayer-funded television ad features imagery of Trump walking down a hall as audio plays of him saying “this is the final battle.”
“We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” Trump says in the ad.
Hassan attempted to pass the resolution criticizing the use of taxpayer funding for the ads via a fast-track process known as a unanimous consent request. Any single senator can object to such a request.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the ads, arguing they are not political because he is not on the ballot.
“Well, I’m not running for office, first of all, and so the ads are given by me, but I’m not running for office, and I don’t talk about anybody,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The president described the spots as patriotic messaging rather than campaign material. “But when I’m talking about making America great, making our country great, that’s a countrywide ad. That’s an ad for the spirit of our country,” he said.
The-CNN-Wire
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This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
