President Donald Trump fired back at reporting of rising costs of building his $400 million White House ballroom, saying that figure remains the top of the price range.
“The White House Ballroom is going up rapidly on the East side of the White House,” Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social. “The only reason the cost has changed is because, after deep rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations.
“The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars. It will be magnificent, safe, and secure!
“This was a necessary change, it was done long ago, but the Fake News failed to report it, trying to make it look like there was a cost overrun. Actually, it is coming in ahead of schedule, and under budget!”
The latest reporting on alleged rising costs comes from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tagging a $1 billion appropriation for the “East Wing Modernization Project” at the bottom of Republicans’ budget reconciliation package Trump hopes to sign by June 1.
That item includes more than just the ballroom and even specifies: “None of the funds made available under this section may be used for non-security elements of the East Wing Modernization Project.”
The bill’s outlay on the final page of the Senate Judiciary Committee reconciliation bill appropriates “$1,000,000,000 to remain available until September 30, 2029, for the purposes of security adjustments and upgrades, including within the perimeter fence of the White House Compound to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project, including above-ground and below-ground security features.”
Trump contends that is a military, national security and White House expenditure, while the $400 million ballroom remains merely a piece planted on top of the upgraded enhancements to the grounds.
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That distinction is now at the center of the dispute. Trump’s post framed the ballroom itself as under budget, saying the higher price reflects a deliberate expansion approved “long ago.” An NBC News report focused on whether the overall project could still impose a major taxpayer cost through security work, even if private donors cover the ballroom’s construction.
The National Capital Planning Commission approved preliminary and final site and building plans for the East Wing Modernization Project on April 2. NCPC staff described the project as a permanent, secure event space intended to increase capacity for official state functions and reduce reliance on temporary tents and support facilities.
The approved plan includes an approximately 22,000-square-foot ballroom designed for roughly 1,000 seated dinner guests, within about 89,000 square feet of above-ground East Wing space.
The White House has increasingly emphasized security as a justification for the project, particularly after Trump faced an unprecedented third assassination attempt last month at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton.
A White House spokesperson praised the proposed funding as necessary to help the Secret Service “fully and completely harden the White House complex,” according to NBC. Democrats quoted by NBC called the proposal a reversal of Trump’s earlier pledge that the ballroom would not cost taxpayers anything.
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The project remains politically and legally contentious. Senate Democrats plan to try to strip the $1 billion provision from the reconciliation bill when it reaches the Senate floor, but Republicans are fully expecting no Democrat votes for it regardless.
Construction has resumed while the legal fight plays out. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction in March blocking further work on the White House ballroom, ruling that the administration could not proceed without congressional authorization, but the D.C. Circuit later kept the injunction on hold while it considers the case.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is challenging the project, says the appeals court has scheduled a June 5 hearing and extended the stay until then, meaning construction can continue for now.
The broader question now is whether lawmakers and courts will treat the ballroom and its associated security infrastructure as separable — as Republicans’ bill language argues — or as parts of a single White House expansion whose public cost could exceed Trump’s repeated private-funding assurances.
