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Miles Archer

(24,033 posts)
Tue May 5, 2026, 08:02 AM 7 hrs ago

Senate Republicans unveil $72 billion spending package, including a $1 billion line item for Grampy's 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.

“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.”

https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-ballroom-2676851455/

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Senate Republicans unveil $72 billion spending package, including a $1 billion line item for Grampy's ballroom (Original Post) Miles Archer 7 hrs ago OP
What? He...He...He Lied? chouchou 6 hrs ago #1
First it was 200 million $s, then 400 million $s, and now it is @ 1 billion $s and what about being privately .... Botany 5 hrs ago #3
Seems like he never says anything that has a smidgen of truth. chouchou 5 hrs ago #8
You gotta wonder just how big the kick backs and grifts will be on this project? Botany 4 hrs ago #17
This is the type of thing that will help win the senate Johonny 6 hrs ago #2
It have not passed yet, I don't think.............. Lovie777 5 hrs ago #4
Twenty Bucks Says You're Wrong. ColoringFool 4 hrs ago #20
You're joking, right? choie 29 min ago #36
So what's going to happen to all those millions already donated? Will the donors be refunded.... OGBuzz 5 hrs ago #5
Let Me Think.....🤔💡 ➡️ 💰💰💰💰💰 ➡️ #️⃣4️⃣7️⃣ ➡️ 🏦 ColoringFool 4 hrs ago #21
It's called bribes Owens 1 hr ago #35
the same way mexico was going to pay for the wall samsingh 5 hrs ago #6
Right after the WHCD, the price tag was $400 million. SamuelAdams 5 hrs ago #7
Your words are true. chouchou 5 hrs ago #10
MaddowBlog-Republicans want to spend $1 billion in taxpayer money on Trump's $400 million ballroom LetMyPeopleVote 5 hrs ago #9
+1 dalton99a 5 hrs ago #14
The entire reason for that 'attempted assassination' ploy. Price goes up when they say the word travelingthrulife 4 hrs ago #18
That headline sums it up perfectly. underpants 2 hrs ago #26
"ONE BILLION DOLLARS" LudwigPastorius 10 min ago #38
Makes me sick. Martin68 5 hrs ago #11
I don't think Mexico is going to pay for the walll. twodogsbarking 5 hrs ago #12
...and Arthur Murray ain't gonna pay for the ballroom either. LudwigPastorius 7 min ago #39
"What happened to the ballroom being paid for by private funds?" Ray Bruns 5 hrs ago #13
Republicans are not cowards. They are traitors and accomplices. dalton99a 4 hrs ago #15
Costs have more than doubled since the start of the Iranian Notawar. twodogsbarking 4 hrs ago #16
It's not just trump who is mentally ill and incredibly unintelligent. Biophilic 4 hrs ago #19
Feels like they're depending on the GOP blocking the elections flamingdem 3 hrs ago #25
Truly. Either they think the election is fixed or they really are that dumb. Biophilic 2 hrs ago #29
The GOP owns both Dominion Voting Systems and E.S.& S. Voting Systems. In 2024 they had firmware Botany 1 hr ago #31
Nope, nope, nope. And. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Joinfortmill 4 hrs ago #22
It was a lie like Mexico paying for the wall. It's not just the ballroom, it's also the Hitler Bunker underneath. ChicagoTeamster 3 hrs ago #23
So he's keeping the donations for himself flamingdem 3 hrs ago #24
And the supposed fiscal responsible party. republianmushroom 2 hrs ago #27
I was watching Traildogbob 2 hrs ago #28
What bullshit themaguffin 2 hrs ago #30
We gonna be bankrupt by July RANDYWILDMAN 1 hr ago #32
....but still going after Jerome Powell for "cost overruns....." joanbarnes 1 hr ago #33
How much is going into their pockets? Owens 1 hr ago #34
If they don't give it to him he will take it from the offense budget. twodogsbarking 20 min ago #37

Botany

(77,721 posts)
3. First it was 200 million $s, then 400 million $s, and now it is @ 1 billion $s and what about being privately ....
Tue May 5, 2026, 09:12 AM
5 hrs ago

…..funded?

As of May 2026, President Donald Trump has stated that the construction of a new, roughly $300 million to $400 million ballroom at the White House—which replaced the historic East Wing—is funded by private donations. While Trump initially pledged it would be funded with "zero cost to the American Taxpayer," the project has faced legal challenges regarding its financing. PBS

chouchou

(3,255 posts)
8. Seems like he never says anything that has a smidgen of truth.
Tue May 5, 2026, 09:55 AM
5 hrs ago

I wish he would say: "I'm going to live for many years"

Botany

(77,721 posts)
17. You gotta wonder just how big the kick backs and grifts will be on this project?
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:40 AM
4 hrs ago

From this:





Hand split granite cobbles… timeless quality.

To this:



Johonny

(26,482 posts)
2. This is the type of thing that will help win the senate
Tue May 5, 2026, 08:25 AM
6 hrs ago

Affordability, run against a 1 billion dollar ballroom!

OGBuzz

(488 posts)
5. So what's going to happen to all those millions already donated? Will the donors be refunded....
Tue May 5, 2026, 09:40 AM
5 hrs ago

or does Trump get to keep it all? It sure looks like this was a scam from the start but at least this time Trump is ripping off the very rich. Now it's on to the next "privately funded" vanity project for the self described "most powerful person to ever live".

ColoringFool

(976 posts)
21. Let Me Think.....🤔💡 ➡️ 💰💰💰💰💰 ➡️ #️⃣4️⃣7️⃣ ➡️ 🏦
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:53 AM
4 hrs ago

samsingh

(18,467 posts)
6. the same way mexico was going to pay for the wall
Tue May 5, 2026, 09:46 AM
5 hrs ago

prices would come down
covid would be gone in 2 weeks
iran would rollover in 3 days

SamuelAdams

(131 posts)
7. Right after the WHCD, the price tag was $400 million.
Tue May 5, 2026, 09:54 AM
5 hrs ago

How did it go up 2.5 times in ten days? Trump just keeps all the private donations already made?

chouchou

(3,255 posts)
10. Your words are true.
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:01 AM
5 hrs ago

Even worse..it wouldn't surprise us if he cheated the construction people.
Par for the course and all that..

LetMyPeopleVote

(181,393 posts)
9. MaddowBlog-Republicans want to spend $1 billion in taxpayer money on Trump's $400 million ballroom
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:00 AM
5 hrs ago

The controversial vanity project was already unpopular. The GOP’s planned use of public funds is poised to make matters worse.

When the latest polling showed 2-to-1 opposition to the WH ballroom project, the survey question emphasized private financing.

Now congressional Republicans want to spend billion in taxpayer money on a 0 million project.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-05-05T12:57:58.925Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-want-1-billion-taxpayer-money-trump-ballroom

It was against this backdrop that GOP lawmakers unveiled the details of their reconciliation bill, which included an unexpected element. NBC News reported:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, [on Monday night] released his committee’s part of the long-term Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding bill, which includes $1 billion for security features related to the White House ballroom.

The funding could not be used for non-security elements, according to the legislative text
.


To be sure, the proposal isn’t just about the ballroom. On the contrary, Republicans are pushing a $72 billion reconciliation package that includes, among other things, more than $38 billion for ICE, roughly $26 billion for CBP and an additional $5 billion for DHS.

To the surprise of no one, the bill also ignores the reform measures Democrats began pushing after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota......

But it’s the $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” to Trump’s ballroom vanity project that’s likely to be among the most controversial parts of the Republicans’ plan.

In case this isn’t obvious, the White House boasted last summer that the price tag for the ballroom would be $200 million, and every penny would come from private donations. By October, the price tag had grown to $250 million. Soon after, it was $300 million. Late last year, it was up to $400 million — though, again, the official line was that American taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook for the costs at all, even as the White House went out of its way to hide the identities of donors......

Put another way, congressional Republicans expect the public to pay $1 billion for a $400 million ballroom.

We’ll learn soon enough whether and to what extent the legislation changes in the coming days and weeks, but for now, GOP officials should probably keep in mind that polls show 2-to-1 opposition to the White House ballroom project, and that’s when the survey question emphasized private financing. Watch this space.

travelingthrulife

(5,484 posts)
18. The entire reason for that 'attempted assassination' ploy. Price goes up when they say the word
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:43 AM
4 hrs ago

'security'.

Ray Bruns

(6,628 posts)
13. "What happened to the ballroom being paid for by private funds?"
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:04 AM
5 hrs ago

The same thing that happened to the great healthcare plan and Mexico paying for the wall. It never existed.

Biophilic

(6,635 posts)
19. It's not just trump who is mentally ill and incredibly unintelligent.
Tue May 5, 2026, 10:47 AM
4 hrs ago

It appears to be the entire republican party. Do they really think that people are going to stand for this kind of waste and evilness or do they think they will have so much under control they don't need to worry about everyone else in the country.

flamingdem

(40,965 posts)
25. Feels like they're depending on the GOP blocking the elections
Tue May 5, 2026, 11:47 AM
3 hrs ago

Why else would they participate in this folly?

Biophilic

(6,635 posts)
29. Truly. Either they think the election is fixed or they really are that dumb.
Tue May 5, 2026, 12:45 PM
2 hrs ago

Bluntly both are equally scary.

Botany

(77,721 posts)
31. The GOP owns both Dominion Voting Systems and E.S.& S. Voting Systems. In 2024 they had firmware
Tue May 5, 2026, 01:21 PM
1 hr ago

patches on their central tabulators and operating systems. Do not be surprised even with Trump and
the G.O. P.’s numbers in the toilet if they win this fall and our republican run and owned media will sell
the story that the dems just couldn’t get the needed turn out. Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Palantir, and Musk’s
DOGE Boys/Ballotproof are into our voting systems and data big time. Trump and the DoJ trying to get
voter lists right now are all about finding what #s they have to hit to “win again.”







ChicagoTeamster

(1,175 posts)
23. It was a lie like Mexico paying for the wall. It's not just the ballroom, it's also the Hitler Bunker underneath.
Tue May 5, 2026, 11:27 AM
3 hrs ago

Trump is having the government pay for his Hitler fantasies. And replenishing the weapons used for his war crimes against Iran with Israel, and the civil rights violations committed by ICE.

Traildogbob

(13,141 posts)
28. I was watching
Tue May 5, 2026, 12:43 PM
2 hrs ago

Nat Geo this AM about Earth Quake research. The doc showed the extensive damage and death from the Cali Quake that flattened multi layer bridges. Massive massive damage. The projected cost was $8 billion. The perspective of what Billions in construction and repairs look like to someone that has no concept of a billion dollars.
So the billion+ dollar ballroom, that will over run even that is sickening.
And remember, Trump has stolen 6 billion from us in the last year and a half.
Jarod has been gifted, so far nearly 8 billion and growing, from middle eastern, terrorist supporting states.
This admin keeps throwing around billions of OUR FUCKING tax dollars like there is an endless bucket of cash, that they contribute nothing to.
And they tell us we get nothing to help us.
And 1/3 of this country love every damn one of them.
They discuss bilking billions from us like we talk about a few hundred for bills each month.
Every day, another multi $ billion project that benefit and enrich them.
When is it enough, President Kennedy asked republicans that decades ago. And still no answer, except in the amount they keep spending and no end in sight. And nothing for us that pay those costs.
GQP are criminal thieves, with full support of an evilgelical Jesus.

RANDYWILDMAN

(3,174 posts)
32. We gonna be bankrupt by July
Tue May 5, 2026, 01:33 PM
1 hr ago

and Trump can just declare victory and move on to the next project.

Damn this might the most phucked up bedazzled ballroom ever

Does any one smell government waste...who is the General contractor for this ballroom could it be TRUMCO.....of course is

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