Critics floored after GOP sneaks in late-night proposal for Trump's White House ballroom

Senate Republicans unveiled a $72 billion spending package late Monday night, and onlookers were left stunned after discovering a $1 billion line item related to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, which he’s long claimed would be entirely funded by private donors.

“What happened to the ballroom being paid for by private funds?” asked political strategist Reed Galen, co-founder of the conservative organization The Lincoln Project, writing in a social media post on X late Monday night.

Unveiled by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Republicans plan to advance the spending package using reconciliation, a process by which the Senate can move legislation with a simple majority and avoid the 60-vote threshold typically required to overcome the filibuster.

The package includes $38.2 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection, and $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to Trump’s ballroom project.

“Add the ballroom to the laundry list of things Trump said someone else would pay for,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), writing in a social media post on X. “Ultimately, of course, it’s always the American people footing the bill for his outrageous pet projects. A $1BN price tag while he rips away your healthcare. Sickening.”

Since its reveal, Trump has repeatedly claimed that his ballroom project would be privately funded and not use taxpayer dollars. That changed, however, shortly after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting last month, which Trump immediately cited as reason to fast-track the project.

Republicans last week began pushing a bill to fund the ballroom project using taxpayer dollars, and Grassley appeared to follow up on that push by including the $1 billion line item in Republican senators’ reconciliation package.

The one silver lining to the abrupt reversal, noted Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), was that lawmakers would now have the opportunity to vote against the president’s White House project.

“Just flagging that now everyone gets an up or down vote on the ballroom!” Schatz said late Monday night in a statement published on social media.