The GOP has descended into civil war over who should pay the bill for President Trump’s ballroom.
Trump plugged the need for the 90,000-square-foot addition to the White House in the wake of a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, which authorities have since said targeted him. “We need the ballroom,” the president said at a press conference after the incident on Saturday.
His closest aides agree, but not everyone in the GOP ranks is convinced that Congress should bankroll the project, creating a schism in the party, according to NBC News.
A fault line cracked open after Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, and Eric Schmitt of Missouri introduced legislation to provide $400 million in federal funding for it.
Graham framed the project as a matter of national security rather than presidential luxury. “This is not about Trump. It’s about the presidency of the United States,” he told reporters. “It’s about the person who occupies that office not being put at risk if they choose to go off campus.”
He said the facility would include “military stuff” and a “Secret Service annex” beneath it, and that private donations could cover furnishings. “Private donations can be used, but I think they should be used for buying china and stuff like that,” he said.
Fellow Republicans were unconvinced. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a Trump ally and spending hawk, questioned the need for public money at all. “I don’t know why you would do it with taxpayer money if it’s all funded,” he said. “We have $39 trillion in debt. Maybe we ought to stop spending money.”
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said he preferred private funding and flagged a separate legal question about whether Congress needs to vote to authorize major reconstruction on White House grounds. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was similarly resistant. “He already has the money,” Paul said. “I’m not for funding the whole $500 million. I think he’s already raised the money through private means.”
Graham, asked to respond to his Republican colleagues, was unbothered. “Just vote no. All I ask you to do is vote. I don’t care how you vote. I want a vote,” he told NBC News. He added, “There are people out there just one click away from picking up a gun or something else and trying to make America better by killing. It’s not a private donation event—it’s a national security event.”
