Trump’s $400M White House ballroom just got a GOP lifeline and some Democrats might be on board
Here we go again.
Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom just got a major GOP lifeline, and a handful of Democrats might actually be open to the idea. According to Fox News, Senators Lindsey Graham, Katie Britt, and Eric Schmitt are pushing a new bill that would foot the entire $400 million bill for the project, using customs fees on imports as the funding source.
The push follows an attempted breach at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend, where a gunman tried to enter the packed Washington Hilton ballroom while Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and hundreds of journalists were inside.
Graham didn’t mince words about the urgency. “If this is not a wake-up call, well, it should be,” he said. The legislation would do more than just fund the ballroom. It would also override an injunction that’s been blocking construction, and silence critics who’ve accused the administration of influence peddling by relying on donor money for the lavish 90,000-square-foot space. Originally projected to cost around $100 million, the price tag has since quadrupled.
The sudden enthusiasm is a sharp turn from earlier skepticism
The ballroom, which Trump wants built where the East Wing once stood, has been a point of contention since it was first announced. The White House initially claimed it would be entirely funded by outside donations, but the new bill would shift the financial burden to taxpayers.
Graham is now pressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fast-track the legislation, either as a standalone vote or by folding it into the upcoming budget reconciliation package that’s meant to fund immigration operations for the rest of Trump’s term. Thune, while acknowledging the Senate’s current focus on funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), agreed that the WHCD incident underscored the need for a secure White House venue.
“Obviously, there’s a vested stake in our government in ensuring that we protect our leaders, like the president, and the vice president, his Cabinet, all of them are targeted,” he said. The DHS funding bill, which includes money for the Secret Service, has been stalled for 74 days amid a record-breaking shutdown, but the assassination attempt appears to have jolted Republicans into action.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to bring the Senate’s partial DHS funding bill to the floor, citing concerns over its provisions for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But after Saturday’s events, he signaled a shift. “We have to move DHS funding because it’s urgent,” Johnson said.
He added, “As the secretary of Homeland has said, we’re out of money. He’s out of money at the end of this week. It’s very dangerous, as demonstrated Saturday night. We’ve got to get the job done.”
The push for DHS funding has taken on a new urgency
Some House Republicans have urged Johnson to act immediately. Rep. Nick Langworthy sent a letter to Johnson demanding a vote on the Senate’s bill, arguing that “there is no time for delay.”
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blamed Republicans for the funding lapse, calling on them to bring the bipartisan Senate bill to the floor. “Bring the bipartisan Senate-passed bill to the House floor today, and it would fund the Department of Homeland Security in its entirety, with the exception of ICE and the violent Republican mass deportation machine,” Jeffries said.
White House budget chief Russ Vought is set to meet with House Republicans to discuss a path forward, but the broader funding battle is far from resolved. Republicans are pursuing a two-track approach: one bill would fund ICE and Border Patrol for three-and-a-half years through budget reconciliation, while another would address the rest of DHS.
The Senate is expected to vote on a budget resolution to fund ICE and CBP soon. This will unlock the reconciliation process and set a June 1 deadline for finalizing the package.
Some Senate Republicans are already eyeing more aggressive tactics
Sen. Rick Scott suggested forcing Democrats to go on record with another vote on DHS funding, saying, “This week, the Senate should put Democrats on record again and see how they vote. Will they decide now is a good time to finally fund [the] Secret Service and all of DHS? Even after last night’s violence and ANOTHER assassination attempt against the President of the United States, this shouldn’t be such a fight to get done.”
Sen. Ron Johnson went even further, suggesting it might be time to eliminate the filibuster entirely. “The Democrats will do it when they get the majority,” he said. “At a moment of national danger, if Democrats refuse to fund DHS, I will say this would be the time to nuke the filibuster for good.”
Trump has long advocated for scrapping the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, but many GOP senators have resisted, wary of giving Democrats an advantage if they regain control of the chamber. The ballroom funding debate, however, has introduced a new dynamic.
While some Democrats remain skeptical – Sen. Tim Kaine called the idea of throwing money at a ballroom “odd” and urged a full investigation into what happened at the Hilton – others seem open to at least discussing the proposal. Sen. Jacky Rosen said the focus should be on safety, not politics. “This isn’t about Donald Trump. It is really about safety,” she said. “I think it should have gone through the right congressional process.”
Britt, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, framed the opposition as reflexive. “I don’t understand why it is that every idea, it doesn’t matter if on its face is good or not, Democrats choose to oppose it if it has anything to do with Donald Trump,” she said.
(Featured image: G. Edward Johnson)
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