GOP bill would fund $1B in White House security upgrades for Trump's ballroom
The proposed amount in taxpayer funds dwarfs the $400 million cost of building the ballroom, which the president has said would be covered by private donors.
Senate Republicans late Monday proposed $1 billion to pay for new White House security measures, with lawmakers and White House officials disagreeing over whether the legislation would cover President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee, laid out a funding package for security upgrades related to the “East Wing Modernization Project,” the Trump administration’s name for its planned 90,000-square-foot project to rebuild the East Wing that Trump demolished last year.
The proposed legislative text says the money would be used for both aboveground and underground security features that the administration has declined to fully detail. The text explicitly says the money could not be used for “nonsecurity elements” of the project, a reference to Trump’s planned ballroom.
“This bill does not fund ballroom construction,” Grassley spokesperson Clare Slattery said in a statement. “It provides funds for Secret Service enhancements that will ensure all presidents, their families and their staffs are adequately protected.”
The legislative proposal comes amid a legal battle over whether the project can proceed, with U.S. District Judge Richard Leon last month ordering a halt to aboveground construction on the ballroom unless Congress authorizes the project, saying that work related to national security can continue. An appeals court panel has stayed Leon’s order while it considers the case.
Construction on the project continues apace. Photos taken in the past week show crews have erected a concrete structure topped with columns of exposed rebar, used to reinforce pillars that will support additional floors.
White House officials said Tuesday that the legislation, if enacted, would authorize the entire project — including the aboveground ballroom.
“Congress has rightly recognized the need for these funds,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement, citing the high-profile incident last month when a gunman stormed through the security checkpoint outside 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.”
The legislation would be included in the Senate’s planned budget reconciliation bill, which can be enacted with a simple majority, bypassing any potential filibuster and eliminating the need for Senate Republicans to court Democratic votes.
Before it advances, the Senate parliamentarian will review the White House security proposal to ensure it complies with rules limiting what can be included in reconciliation bills. Only provisions related to spending or generating revenue can be included.
The larger proposed reconciliation bill also includes $38.2 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection, $1.5 billion for the Department of Justice, and $5 billion for other border security, immigration, and law enforcement efforts.
It would allow the administration to use the money through the end of September 2029, ensuring the agencies are funded through the end of Trump’s term.
White House officials have previously maintained that the ballroom, which Trump has said could cost $400 million, would be entirely funded by private donors and not come at taxpayers’ expense. Republicans on Tuesday said that security measures for the project should not be the responsibility of private donors, and they expect their proposal would provide sufficient funds to secure the facility.
Trump has argued that the ballroom itself is a needed national security measure so he and future presidents can safely entertain VIP guests, a message increasingly echoed by his allies in Congress after last month’s incident. Justice Department officials last week asked Leon to dissolve his order blocking construction, citing the shooting at the correspondents’ dinner in a rambling legal filing that read like one of Trump’s Truth Social posts.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the organization that sued the administration in December to block work on the project, has been skeptical of the security rationale. Lawyers representing the National Trust, a nonprofit charged by Congress with protecting historical buildings, noted that Trump continues to live at the White House and entertain foreign dignitaries despite the administration’s claims that the current situation poses a security risk.
“Your assertion that this lawsuit puts the President’s life at ‘grave risk’ is incorrect and irresponsible,” Gregory Craig, a Foley Hoag lawyer representing the National Trust, wrote to Justice Department lawyers last week. “Simply put, this case does not jeopardize the President’s safety in any way.”
Democrats argued Tuesday that the proposal illustrates that Republicans are out of touch with voters’ needs, highlighting the broadly unpopular ballroom. Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to tear down the White House’s East Wing to make way for his planned ballroom, funded by about $400 million in private donations, while 28% support the project, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted last month.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement that Republicans “are ignoring the needs of middle-class America and instead funneling money into Trump’s ballroom and throwing billions at two lawless agencies.”
The legal fight over the ballroom’s construction, which initially focused on whether Trump had authority to pursue the project, has increasingly revolved around arguments about national security and the president’s safety. Since litigation was filed nearly five months ago, Justice Department lawyers have argued that work must continue on national security grounds, saying that any pause could imperil Trump, his family, and White House staff. They have said the proposed building is designed to defend against “hostile attacks via drones, ballistic missiles, bullets, biohazards” and other potential threats while Trump has said crews are building a “massive complex” of secure underground facilities beneath it.
Leon has been unpersuaded, ruling twice that the administration has failed to justify the national security reasons for why the ballroom is needed immediately.