Two days after a gunman tried to breach security at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Hilton hotel, Republican lawmakers got straight to work pushing for President Donald Trump's $400 million White House ballroom.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump were ushered out of the dinner after the gunman pulled a Leeroy Jenkins past security and shot a Secret Service agent near the security checkpoint.
Not only was the security atrocious considering how many high-profile individuals were at the event (where Reagan shooter John Hinckley, who shot Regan there, said it was a dumb place to keep holding high-profile events), Trump was evacuated a full 10 seconds after JD Vance.
So, great job there.
And now, the push to get Trump's ballroom completed...
"Let’s get it done," Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) said on X, announcing that he would introduce legislation this week and move for unanimous consent of "express approval for construction of a Presidential ballroom" - while over in the House Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) will introduce the "Build the Ballroom Act" and file for explicit statutory authority.
"While the lawsuits attempting to stop this privately-funded gift to the country are nonsense, last night makes it clear that we need it—and we need it now," he posted on X. "I look forward to Democrats repudiating their violent rhetoric against President Trump by cosponsoring and supporting this bill. Mr. President, build away."
Boebert's on it too - with the Colorado Republican announcing that she 'and her team' are in the process of drafting legislation to guarantee the project's completion.
"I don’t believe congressional approval is required for the project, but if it’ll keep activist judges on the sideline, so be it," she posted on X. "More to come this week."
Even Sen. John Fetterman, who was there on Saturday, (D-PN) is onboard.
"We were there front and center. That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government," he wrote on X. "After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these."
As the Epoch Times notes further, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also joined the calls to allow the ballroom to go ahead.
“It’s time to build the ballroom,” he posted on social media.
Trump said on Truth Social that the project was ahead of schedule and well within budget, arguing it’s necessary for security purposes.
He criticized a lawsuit by historic preservationists as based on the “passing aesthetic gripe of a single person” that is no justification for delaying a secure facility.
The ballroom project, envisioned by Trump for years as a classical addition to the executive mansion, has faced repeated legal hurdles. A federal judge ruled in March that construction requires explicit congressional authorization, halting above-ground work while allowing limited underground activity to continue. Appeals courts have issued temporary stays, but litigation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation continues.
Trump once offered to fund a ballroom privately during the Obama years but was turned down. Construction moved forward in Trump’s second term after demolition of parts of the East Wing. The administration described it as a privately-financed upgrade needed to bring the White House up-to-date to accommodate modern events.
Architects called the design “classical, beautiful, and long overdue,” as court cases mulled whether the executive branch required legislative sign-off for such a considerable alteration to the historic complex.
Preservation groups contend the project goes around lawful reviews and risks the White House’s historic character. The Justice Department on April 26 asked for the case to be dropped to ensure the safety of the president, his family, and administration officials.