Gillibrand Slams Trump’s Costly $1.8 Billion Vanity Projects, Misplaced Priorities

Gillibrand Slams Trump's Costly $1.8 Billion Vanity Projects, Misplaced Priorities

Oct 1, 2026

JEC Report: Cost Of Vanity Projects Could Cover 600 Million School Lunches, Medical Bills For 88,000+ Veterans For One Year, Or 12 Million Households' Electric Bills For One Month

GILLIBRAND: "President Trump Is More Focused On Self-Serving Vanity Projects Than Lowering Costs,"

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) held a virtual press conference to discuss better uses for the billions of taxpayer dollars that President Trump is wasting on vanity projects and the war with Iran.

Senator Gillibrand's press conference follows a new report with calculations that find that President Trump's vanity projects - including construction of the new White House ballroom and the no-bid contract to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, among others - are expected to cost more than $1.8 billion. That is on top of over $40 billion that has been spent supporting the president's war with Iran.

Trump's policies have cost New Yorkers over $5,500.

At the press conference, Senator Gillibrand highlighted alternative uses for the $1.8 billion spent on vanity projects, including paying for over 600 million school lunches, 12 million electric bills, or medical expenditures for nearly 90,000 veterans.

"The president of the United States is supposed to serve the American people, not the other way around. But as working families struggle to afford groceries, gas, and sky-high healthcare bills, President Trump is more focused on self-serving vanity projects than lowering costs," said Senator Gillibrand. "This is disgraceful. This administration must end its wasteful spending and instead support the working families who are paying the price for the president's absurdity."

Key examples from the report of what $1.8 billion for Trump's vanity projects could instead pay for include:

• Over 600 million school lunches
• 1.8 million families' monthly grocery bills
• 12 million people's electric bills for one month
• The medical costs for more than 88,000 veterans for one year
• The hiring of more than 27,000 schoolteachers or 29,000 firefighters
• More than 35 million tanks of gas for a typical sedan
• Restoration of SNAP benefits for a year to over 400,000 families who lost their benefits thanks to Trump's cuts.

While President Trump pledged not to use taxpayer dollars for construction of his White House ballroom, he then broke that promise by using funds for the Secret Service to pay for parts of the ballroom. He also continues to oversee new projects and events - including his proposed Triumphal Arch, the retrofit of the new Qatari Air Force One plane, and more - that require considerable funding.

Senator Gillibrand has been fighting back against President Trump's vanity projects and self-promotion at taxpayers' expense. In April, she introduced the Halting Unilateral Money and Building Labeling by Egotistical (HUMBLE) Presidents Act, which would bar the use of a sitting president's name, image, likeness, or signature to decorate or designate federal property, assets, or currency. This would halt some of the vanity projects, including the minting of $1 coins with President Trump's face on them and his many attempts to rename buildings and monuments after himself.

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