Republican lawmakers began a push on Sunday to draft and introduce bills seeking congressional approval for President Donald Trump’s long-planned $400 million White House ballroom, pointing to security needs in the wake of an alleged presidential assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The move came just two days after a gunman tried to breach security at the Washington Hilton dinner where Trump and other top officials were in attendance, prompting renewed debate over the need for a large, secure room at the White House.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump were evacuated from the dinner, after the gunman breached security and shot a Secret Service agent near the security checkpoint.
Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mt.) said he would introduce legislation this week and move for unanimous consent of “express approval for construction of a Presidential ballroom.”
“This is common sense,” Sheehy posted on X. “Let’s get it done.”
Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) also announced he would file the “Build the Ballroom Act” 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,” Fine posted to X. “I look forward to Democrats repudiating their violent rhetoric against President Trump by cosponsoring and supporting this bill. Mr. President, build away.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said 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,” Boebert posted on X. “More to come this week.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.), who was in attendance at the Saturday night event at the Washington Hilton, split with many in his party to back the building of a White House ballroom.
“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,” Fetterman wrote on X.
“After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these,” he added, using an acronym for so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome, a term used to describe extreme opposition to Trump and his actions and policies.
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.
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