Republicans are pushing legislation to clear Trump’s planned White House ballroom after a shooting at the press dinner intensified security arguments.
Republican lawmakers are moving to give congressional approval to President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner sharpened security concerns around high-profile presidential events in Washington.
The renewed push follows Saturday night’s incident at the Washington Hilton, where Trump and members of his Cabinet were attending the annual dinner. Trump was evacuated after gunfire was heard, and federal law enforcement subdued a suspect near the hotel’s ballroom, according to the source accounts.
The shooting has turned a legally contested construction project into an immediate political fight over presidential security, public spending and control of the White House grounds. The proposed ballroom has been described in the source material as a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot addition on the site of the former East Wing.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., said he plans to seek fast approval this week for legislation authorizing the project. “A President of any party should be able to host events in a secure area without attendees worrying about their safety,” Sheehy wrote on X.
House Republicans are also preparing to act. Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Randy Fine of Florida are planning legislation to approve construction, while Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wants a broader budget measure to include authority for a secure ballroom on White House grounds.
The project had been bogged down in litigation before the shooting. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is suing the Trump administration, arguing that the president exceeded his authority by proceeding without congressional approval. A federal judge recently limited above-ground construction while allowing some work tied to national security facilities to continue; a federal appeals panel then temporarily paused that order and set a June 5 hearing, according to CNBC’s account. Fox News described the project as stalled by an injunction but also noted that the administration had appealed to keep some work moving below ground.
Trump has seized on the shooting to argue that the ballroom is needed for national security. In a Truth Social post Sunday, he said the incident “would never even have happened” if events were held in what he called a secure ballroom on White House grounds, adding that it “cannot be built fast enough.”
The Justice Department also moved to increase pressure on the project’s legal opponents. In a letter cited by CNBC, the department demanded that the National Trust drop its lawsuit by Monday morning or face a government motion to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case, citing what it called an assassination attempt on the president.
Support for the project is not entirely confined to Republicans. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who attended the dinner, said afterward that the Washington Hilton was not built to accommodate an event involving the presidential line of succession and urged construction of the White House ballroom for events of that kind.
Still, the security argument does not resolve all questions surrounding the project. CNBC noted that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a privately held event and that a ballroom on White House grounds would likely raise political concerns if used for private functions secured at taxpayer expense.
The next test will come in Congress and in court, where lawmakers’ effort to authorize the ballroom could intersect with the pending appeal over whether construction may continue without explicit congressional approval.
Comments (0)