Congressional Republicans Reject Democrats’ Plan to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Trump’s $1 Billion White House Ballroom
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This morning, Senators on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted for the first time on whether to spend $1 billion in taxpayer money on Trump’s White House Ballroom Project, with Republicans voting to reject a series of Democratic amendments that would prohibit taxpayer funding of the ballroom and require competitive bidding, transparency and oversight for the project.
Republican Senators blocked nine ballroom-related amendments by Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). Sen. Hassan’s amendments would prohibit the president from using any taxpayer dollars for his gilded vanity ballroom project and redirect the ballroom funds to fund health care, counter child sex exploitation, and support the work of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Senator Blumenthal’s amendments would block any funds from being spent on the ballroom project until the names and amounts contributed by all anonymous donors are made public, require competitive construction contracts, and create a Congressional Oversight panel for the ballroom.
In response Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger said:
“We applaud Senators Hassan and Blumenthal for taking action to prohibit taxpayer money from being spent on Trump’s golden White House ballroom and to expose the corruption behind this shady scheme. Every member of Congress now needs to decide whether or not they agree with the American people, who overwhelmingly oppose the ballroom.”
The full Senate may now vote on the billion-dollar ballroom proposal and other ballroom-related amendments on the Senate Floor as soon as Thursday.