MaddowBlog-Republicans want to spend $1 billion in taxpayer money on Trump's $400 million ballroom

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The controversial vanity project was already unpopular. The GOP’s planned use of public funds is poised to make matters worse.

When the latest polling showed 2-to-1 opposition to the WH ballroom project, the survey question emphasized private financing.

Now congressional Republicans want to spend billion in taxpayer money on a 0 million project.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-05-05T12:57:58.925Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-want-1-billion-taxpayer-money-trump-ballroom

It was against this backdrop that GOP lawmakers unveiled the details of their reconciliation bill, which included an unexpected element. NBC News reported:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, [on Monday night] released his committee’s part of the long-term Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding bill, which includes $1 billion for security features related to the White House ballroom.

The funding could not be used for non-security elements, according to the legislative text.

To be sure, the proposal isn’t just about the ballroom. On the contrary, Republicans are pushing a $72 billion reconciliation package that includes, among other things, more than $38 billion for ICE, roughly $26 billion for CBP and an additional $5 billion for DHS.

To the surprise of no one, the bill also ignores the reform measures Democrats began pushing after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota......

But it’s the $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” to Trump’s ballroom vanity project that’s likely to be among the most controversial parts of the Republicans’ plan.

In case this isn’t obvious, the White House boasted last summer that the price tag for the ballroom would be $200 million, and every penny would come from private donations. By October, the price tag had grown to $250 million. Soon after, it was $300 million. Late last year, it was up to $400 million — though, again, the official line was that American taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook for the costs at all, even as the White House went out of its way to hide the identities of donors......

Put another way, congressional Republicans expect the public to pay $1 billion for a $400 million ballroom.

We’ll learn soon enough whether and to what extent the legislation changes in the coming days and weeks, but for now, GOP officials should probably keep in mind that polls show 2-to-1 opposition to the White House ballroom project, and that’s when the survey question emphasized private financing. Watch this space.

[rampartd]

1. the fed chair is being prosecuted for cost over runs? please.

i do not care what the ball room costs, it must be imploded. along with the arch . the gold gizmos. anything he has touched.

[bif]

2. Dupe

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221219817

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. White House officials said that the legislation would authorize the entire project -- including the aboveground ballroom

Senate Republicans maintain their proposal would authorize security construction, but not Trump’s ballroom. The White House disagrees.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/05/senate-budget-bill-trump-ballroom

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.

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 “non-security elements” of the project, a reference to Trump’s planned ballroom.....

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 spokesman 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.”.....

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.....

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 percent support the project, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted last month.

trump will use the $1 billion for the entire project including the aboveground ballroom. There will be no funding by private donations.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Trump admin's official position is that almost EVERYTHING in the ballroom is security-related.

trump wants US taxpayers to pay the entire cost of the ballroom

Link to tweet

The reconciliation bill says that Trump can’t spend the $1 billion they gave him for the ballroom on “non-security” features.

But the Trump admin’s official position is that almost EVERYTHING in the ballroom — from the walls to the columns to the ceiling — is security-related.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Here is the text of the bill

I disagree with trump's position

Link to tweet