No White House Ballroom (UPDATED 5/5)

May 5, 2026: The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees have released the proposed text of the Republican budget reconciliation bill. In addition to the over $70 billion for immigration enforcement, it includes $1 billion for “security” related features of Trump’s ballroom. While the text stipulates that the funds cannot be used for construction, this administration cannot be trusted to abide by that restriction. They have already claimed the entire purpose of the East Wing renovation is for “security.” The committees may do markups on the text to make changes during the week of May 11th before it goes to the full Senate for a vote.

In the midst of the longest partial government shutdown in American history, several republican lawmakers are prepping legislation to fund Trump’s new White House ballroom. A vanity project with no legitimate justification, Trump’s building of this extravagant and costly ballroom has led to the demolition of the White House’s historic East Wing in spite of a lack of congressional approval and a federal judge’s order to stop.

The ballroom has so far been funded by private sector “donations,” many of which are from billionaires and large corporations with contracts or other business with the government, leading many to suspect bribery and corruption. Moments after the alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Trump and his allies began vocally advocating for funding the unrelated ballroom and have since proposed adding this funding to the GOP’s party-line immigration enforcement bill to fund ICE and CBP. Others have proposed individual bills that will give $400 million of taxpayer money to fund the building of the ballroom, which initially was said to cost around $200 million.

With a nation in financial turmoil, there are countless programs to fund other than Trump’s vanity project. Tell your representatives to oppose the funding and construction of Trump’s ballroom and the unnecessary makeover of the White House.