On April 28, 2026, The Independent reported that Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and Katie Britt (R-AL) are pushing legislation to fund Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project with U.S. customs and national parks user fees, and to build new military and Secret Service infrastructure within the ballroom complex. Sen. Graham said the White House supports the effort.
The political problem with the bill is that Trump has spent months telling the American public the ballroom would be entirely funded by private donors, including major tech corporations that do business with the federal government and donated to his inauguration. The Graham-Schmitt-Britt bill is the explicit reversal of that promise. Sen. Lindsey Graham to reporters Monday: 'It's very difficult to have a bunch of important people in the same place unless it's really, really secure. The times in which we live are unusual. I've been up here for a while now. I've never felt the sense of threat that exists today.'
In the House, Rep. Lauren Boebert is preparing companion legislation. She told MeidasTouch that 'hardly any' taxpayer money would be involved in the effort, contradicting the Senate framing on the funding source. The main obstacle, she said, was the National Trust for Historic Preservation lawsuit. Sen. Rand Paul filed an alternative bill that would not use additional taxpayer funds but would allow Congress to give expedited reviews to major White House projects.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'He demolished the East Wing of the White House, a historic jewel of the American people, and he started to build this ballroom long before any incident. He also promised the American people that this was going to be built with private dollars, and so the idea that they are trying to change the rationale for this in retrospect doesn't quite add up.' Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin: 'There's obviously a lot of questions about how much it costs, how many people will be accommodated.'
The push comes after Saturday's WHCD shooting, which Trump and Republican supporters cite as security justification for the ballroom. Public Citizen's prior reporting documented that 16 of the 24 corporate ballroom donors hold federal contracts (Lockheed Martin alone has $191B in contracts over five years), and 14 of the 24 face active federal enforcement actions including major antitrust cases against Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. The proposed taxpayer top-up would supplement an already-troubled donor list with public money.
The taxpayer share moved from proposal to disbursement in June. On June 16, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget released $351.6 million to the Secret Service for “White House Security Measures” ($340.8 million for procurement and construction and $10.75 million for operations), drawn from a roughly $1.17 billion Secret Service appropriation in the reconciliation package. Contractor Clark Construction had estimated the East Wing ballroom at about $600 million total, with roughly $300 million coming from taxpayers through the Secret Service, the White House Military Office, and the Executive Residence, contradicting Trump's repeated promise of full private funding at about $400 million. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): “Trump promised again and again taxpayers would not pay a cent for his ballroom.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said the president “promised that only private donations would be used... and I believe he should keep to that.”
Related entries: Senate Republicans' $72 Billion ICE Bill Carried $1 Billion in Secret Service Security Money Tied to Trump's Ballroom, Until It Was Stripped.