Senate

Senate Republicans push bill to authorize $400 million for White House ballroom

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by Alexander Bolton - 04/27/26 8:23 PM ET

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by Alexander Bolton - 04/27/26 8:23 PM ET

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A group of Senate Republicans led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) are pushing a bill to fund the construction of a secure 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House and say the project is essential to national security after a gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday.

Graham and his allies say the cost of this project would be offset by national park user fees and customs fees, and that the bill would authorize the construction of national security-related infrastructure below the ballroom, including an annex for the Secret Service.

“It’s very difficult to have a bunch of important people in the same place unless it’s really, really secure. The times in which we live are unusual. I’ve been up here for a while now, I’ve never felt the sense of threat that exists today,” said Graham, who was first elected to the House in 1994.

He noted that in addition to President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who are second and third in the presidential line of succession, were at the dinner Saturday when a 31-year-old man armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives tried to break into the ballroom before being tackled by Secret Service personnel.

Graham said while critics have panned Trump’s quest to build a ballroom that would dwarf the West Wing as a vanity project, he never saw it that way.

“A meeting space that is secured on the White House grounds that would allow people to do what they did at the Hilton hotel is necessary. I’m convinced that had there been a presidential ballroom adjacent to the White House, the guy would have never gotten in,” he said referring to the assailant.

Graham has teamed up with Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) to authorize the construction of a presidential ballroom with military-type complex beneath it in case of emergencies.

Schmitt told reporters that national park fees would also defray the costs of the project.

“Underneath it will be a lot of military stuff. There will be a Secret Service annex and we pay for it by offsetting it with customs fees,” he said. “Private donations can be used but I think they should be used for buying [fine] china and stuff like that.”

Graham said he talked to Trump about the proposal on Sunday and said the White House supports it.

The South Carolina senator, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, said Trump constantly talks about the importance of building the ballroom, an issue he has become almost fixated on in conversations with senators.

“Every time, all the time. Like, ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Where’s the ballroom?’ ‘How you playin’ [golf?]’ ‘I don’t know, I’d play better if you built the ballroom.’ It’s all the time,” Graham said with a chuckle. “He understands what’s missing.”

Graham noted that King Charles III of Great Britain arrived at the White House Monday and a new ballroom would suit such an occasion.

Schmitt, who also speaks regularly to Trump, said “it’s important,” when Graham asked him how many times he’s discussed the ballroom with the president.

Trump at a press conference Saturday night after the shooting said the incident underscored the need to build a White House ballroom.

Graham said he will ask Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to expedite his bill and put it on the Senate floor for a vote as soon as possible.

Centrist Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) on Sunday expressed support for building the ballroom and called on fellow Democrats to drop their opposition.

Asked about the prospect of more Democratic support, Graham said he hasn’t formally pitched the bill to his Democratic colleagues yet.

“I’m trying to jumpstart the conversation. I’ve talked to a few of them just out the hall. … Some of them of them were there. They’re rattled like the best of us,” he said.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), however, told reporters that he’s a “no” vote at this point.

“At this point no. There’s obviously a lot of questions about how much it costs, how many people will be accommodated,” he said.

He said the ballroom would be “dramatically smaller” than the Washington Hilton, where the annual dinner is traditionally held.

“I have a lot of questions,” Durbin added. “Who’s paying for this? What’s the arrangement? This administration has too many times come up with deferment of payment to special interest sources. We do