Donald Trump holds up plans for the White House ballroom. Photo / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Construction of United States President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom is in jeopardy after the Senate blocked US$1 billion ($1.7b) in funding for its security updates.
The decision, welcomed by Democrats, is a blow to the Trump Administration’s efforts to devote taxpayer money to the controversial project.
Trump has said the construction of the 8360sq m ballroom, which is already underway, would be funded by US$400 million in private donations.
But Senate Republicans are seeking $1b in taxpayer funding for the Secret Service to cover its security upgrades and other structures being built beneath the ballroom.
Democrats have criticised the ballroom as an expensive and frivolous diversion by Trump at a time when Americans face rising inflation and spiralling costs of oil and gas driven by his war against Iran.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate’s non-partisan parliamentarian, ruled at the weekend that the proposal would need to reach a 60-vote threshold. Republicans hold 53 seats in the chamber and the Democrats are uniformly opposed, meaning that it would be blocked.
Trump bulldozed the East Wing of the White House to make way for what he hopes will be “the finest building of its kind anywhere in the world”. He has described it as his “legacy project”, fulfilling his ambition of hosting world leaders in a dining room matching the grandeur of European palaces.
It is one of several major refurbishment projects ordered by Trump in Washington that his opponents say is an attempt to remodel some of the city’s most sacred historical sites in his own political image.
Trump is painting the 610m-long Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue”, pushing for a 76m-tall triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery and aiming to turn East Potomac Golf Links into a “championship-level course”.
His name already adorns the facades of the US Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Centre, which he shut for two years during renovations.
Republicans have said federal funding for ballroom security is needed to ensure presidential safety, citing how last month a would-be assassin stormed a media gala in Washington that Trump attended.
The Administration has said the ballroom will modernise infrastructure, bolster security and ease strain on the White House, which often relies on temporary outdoor structures to host large events.
Republican senators indicated that they would seek to revise the legislation to gain the parliamentarian’s approval. They hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber.
The party has made a habit of invoking complex budget rules to try to secure passage without any Democratic support.
Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate budget committee, said: “While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill.”
If Republicans do not succeed, they may be unable to include the ballroom-related funding in a US$72b spending package they plan to bring to a vote on the Senate floor, intended for immigration enforcement.
The White House said the ballroom would be completed around September 2028, near the end of Trump’s second term in office.
Democrats, hoping to win control of Congress in November’s Midterm elections, are seizing on Republican support of the ballroom to portray the party as out of touch with the cost-of-living concerns of Americans.
Trump told reporters last week that he was not weighing the economic burden of the Iran war on everyday Americans when negotiating a deal with the country’s leadership.
Asked to what extent “Americans’ financial situations” were motivating him to make a deal with Iran, he replied: “Not even a little bit”.
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump continued.
His critics quickly jumped on the remark, seeking to frame it as a sign of the disconnect between the US President’s priorities and those of ordinary Americans.
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