Republicans push White House ballroom bill after weekend assassination attempt

Congress has stayed out of the private planning and legal fights over construction of a new White House ballroom — until now.

Republican lawmakers are suddenly interested in authorizing — and potentially even funding — the $400 million ballroom project after a would-be assassin crashed the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday.

“I’m working with my team to draft legislation ensuring the White House Ballroom is completed,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, on social media Sunday. “I don’t believe congressional approval is required for the project, but if it’ll keep activist judges on the sideline, so be it.”

Construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom has been slowed by a lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, but a federal appeals court recently overruled a lower court injunction that placed a hold on some of the work.

National Trust for Historic Preservation President and CEO Carol Quillen said in a statement Monday that the group will not voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit despite pressure from the White House to do so.

“Ballroom construction is continuing unabated until June 5 at the earliest because the injunction is on hold,” she said. “We have always acknowledged the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House. Building it lawfully requires the approval of Congress, which the administration could seek at any time.”

President Trump, who along with other top administration officials was the target of the assassination attempt, praised the Secret Service and other law enforcement officials for quickly apprehending the gunman who ran past a security checkpoint inside the Hilton before he could get to the main ballroom or within shooting range of the president.

But Mr. Trump argued the inability to fully secure the private hotel is even more reason why his new White House ballroom must be built.

“This is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House,” Mr. Trump said, noting the new ballroom will be larger and “much more secure.”

“It’s drone-proof. It’s bulletproof glass,” he said. “That’s why the Secret Service, that’s why the military are demanding it.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said he spoke with Mr. Trump and agrees the new ballroom is “a national security necessity.”

He held a press conference Monday evening with Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Eric Schmitt of Missouri to preview a bill they plan to introduce to authorize and fund the project.

“This is not about Trump,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s about the presidency of the United States. It’s about the person who occupies that office not being put at risk if they choose to go off campus.”

He said Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, supports the legislation but that he has not talked to other Democratic senators about it yet. 

Mr. Graham and Ms. Britt are members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The senators defended their push to use taxpayer funding for the project, arguing it will strengthen national security as military infrastructure and a Secret Service annex will be built underneath the ballroom.

They also said having a secure event space on White House grounds will protect the presidential line of succession when they are gathered in the same place as Mr. Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson were at the correspondents dinner on Saturday. 

Mr. Trump has already raised the bulk of the money needed to fund the ballroom project through private donations.

“I think part of the genius of Sen. Graham’s bill is this actually allows a mechanism, which doesn’t exist in current law, for those private donations to be deployed for this purpose,” Mr. Schmitt said. “As far as any other dollars that could be used if that’s not enough, it’s [paid for with] an extension of user fees at national parks.”

Mr. Graham said while the bill allows private donations to be used, he believes those funds should pay for china settings and other decor rather than the ballroom infrastructure.

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has an alternative proposal that will authorize the ballroom project but without requiring taxpayer funding.

Mr. Paul is also a member of the National Capital Planning Commission that gave its approval to the project earlier this month.

The senator said he will offer a unanimous consent request on Tuesday to pass his legislation.

“My bill cuts through the unnecessary legal delays getting in the way of the East Wing Modernization project,” he said. “This bill ensures the ballroom can move forward using private funding, protects taxpayers, and creates a faster approval pathway for critical improvements while maintaining congressional oversight.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters that the assassination attempt at the correspondents dinner has sparked interest among his colleagues in legislatively supporting the ballroom project.

“If nothing else, it did point to the need for modernization of that facility,” he said.

Mr. Thune did not back a specific legislative approach to authorizing the project, saying, “we’ll see what’s achievable.”

Mr. Johnson has also not backed a specific legislative approach but has discussed the need for the ballroom since attending Saturday’s gathering.

“The ballroom will be a solution for this because it will be on the most secure compound in the world, it won’t have hotel rooms above it and it’ll have 7-inch thick glass, for example, on the windows,” he said Monday on Fox News. “So it’ll be a very safe environment to do events like this.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said he has not seen a specific request from the White House to Congress asking lawmakers to appropriate funds for the ballroom.

But he suggested Congress’ time would be better spent passing bills to lower the cost of living and taking action to end the war in Iran.

“These are the things we should actually be focused on, not a vanity project that resulted from the destruction — that was unauthorized — of the East Wing of the White House,” Mr. Jeffries said.

Anticipating Democratic opposition, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and other Republican lawmakers have floated adding funds for construction of the ballroom to a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation package Republicans are preparing to boost immigration enforcement funding.

However, GOP leaders have sought to keep that package from expanding beyond the roughly $75 billion they say is needed to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol through the remainder of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

The president himself weighed in on social media on Monday asking House Republicans not to alter the immigration enforcement-focused budget blueprint the Senate approved last week to begin the reconciliation process.

“House Republicans must unify, and pass the same Blueprint to get the Bill done,” he wrote. “I’ve asked for the final Bill on my desk by June 1st, and we can make that deadline if we keep to the plan, fast and focused.”