In Their Own Words: After Trump Said Taxpayers Wouldn’t Pay “One Dime” For His Ballroom, Republicans Move To Stick Them With A $1 Billion Bill

Americans Want Relief. Republicans Are Answering With A Taxpayer-Funded Ballroom.

Washington, D.C. - As Senate Republicans prepare to write a one-billion-dollar check for Trump's vanity project, Senate Democrats remind Republicans that they promised for months that this project would be funded by private investors-not taxpayers.

As Republicans send costs skyrocketing, gut health care, and plunge the economy into chaos, President Trump is going all in on building his ballroom. Last year, Trump took a bulldozer to the East Wing of the White House and broke ground on his gilded vanity project. Even as American families call for relief from Republicans' affordability crisis, Trump has remained laser focused on his pet project.

From the start, President Trump and Republicans have insisted that "not one dime of government money [will go] into the ballroom." But now, Republicans have allocated one billion taxpayer dollars for Trump's ballroom in the party-line bill they are trying to jam through Congress. Republicans have a choice: stand by their past statements-or rubberstamp this waste of Americans' hard-earned dollars.

"These Ballroom Republicans are choosing Trump's chandelier over your childcare, Trump's ego over your electric bill, and Trump's palace over the people's priorities. Americans want relief. Republicans are answering with a ballroom," said Leader Schumer. "Despite Trump insisting that the ballroom would be completely privately funded - the truth is now coming out. Republicans are now wasting taxpayer funding on Trump's pet projects. Of course, this is just what the American people have come to expect from the Trump presidency: more broken promises, and more of the President using the office to serve his whims and desires."

Quotes from Trump on the ballroom:

President Donald Trump: "It's going to cost nothing. I will spend the whole thing myself, we will do a big beautiful room, we can use it at the White House." [WH Women Sports Press Conference, 2/5/25]

President Donald Trump: "We're gonna make and build a ballroom which they've wanted for probably 100 years at the White House. And it'll be a world class beautiful ballroom and they'll use the meeting rooms already existing. And we're gonna get that started over the next few months and it's gonna be beautiful and it'll be done properly andI will fund it. Yeah, I'm not going to ask the government for money. I'll fund it, and I'm sure we'll have some donations to it. But it's not an inexpensive thing. It'll cost a lot of money." [NBC Meet the Press Transcript Via CQ, 5/4/25]

President Donald Trump: I always said I was going to do something about the ballroom. Because they should have one. So we'll be leaving it. It will be a great legacy project. And I think it will be special. You saw some renderings of the initial. I think it will be really beautiful.

Reporter: And no government dollars at all?

Trump: No government dollars. No. [Press Gaggle, 7/31/25]

President Donald Trump: "We're building a world-class ballroom. You know, for 150 years, they've wanted a ballroom here. We don't have a ballroom. We have a little cocktail area, but we don't have a ballroom. The-the East Room, it's called, is a very small cocktail area. It holds about 88 people if it's-if it's tight. And we said-I said, if I do this again, I'm going to get a ballroom built and we're putting up our own money. The government is paying for nothing. You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that's music to my ears. I love that sound. Other people don't like it. I love it, Josh. I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. In this case, it reminds me of lack of money because I'm paying for it, so it's the opposite." [Meeting With GOP Senators at Rose Garden Transcript Via CQ, 10/21/25]

President Donald Trump: "We're, so we're, uh, ahead of schedule and under budget, and all, uh, of this money, all of the money paid is, are paid by myself and donors, and it's all donors. There's not one dime of government money going into the ballroom." [Gaggle Aboard AF1 Transcript Via CQ, 3/29/26]

President Donald Trump: "We're going to have the finest ballroom, I believe, anywhere in the world. And he said, we need Congressional approval. Well, they don't get Congressional approval from the White House. When they do things they don't-especially when you don't-we didn't ask for any tax money. We have no tax-this is taxpayer free. We have no taxpayer putting up $0.10. And I see right here, I just wrote it out, he said we need Congressional approval. Well, we've built many things at the White House over the years, they don't get Congressional approval when they build in the White House, it's totally separate. And especially when it's a donation. I mean, the ballroom is a donation." [Election Executive Order Via CQ, 3/31/26]

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: "President Trump and other donors have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million structure. The United States Secret Service will provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications. The White House ballroom will be substantially separated from the main building of the White House, but at the same time, its theme and architectural heritage will be almost identical." [WH Press Briefing, 7/31/25]

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: "This is going to be a magnificent addition to the White House for many years to come, and it's not costing the taxpayers anything. The president is privately funding this ballroom addition to the White House grounds"… "as for the cost of the ballroom and the construction itself, all of that is going to be, like I've said, privately funded and paid for by the president himself in many generous patriots who have stepped up in that funding." [WH Press Briefing, 10/23/25]

Senate Republicans on the ballroom:

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-AR): "I think that the donors should all be public, but I don't know why, if you've got private donors who want to do it ... I prefer that to the taxpayer being on the hook," Hawley said. "But I think it's a separate question as to whether we need to authorize it." [New Republic, 4/28/26]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO): "The fact the president is doing this on his own dime. Laura, I saw it today. It looks fantastic. I'm delighted he's doing it. And I love seeing these liberals melt down." [FNC, 10/25/25]

Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV): "[S]eems like an awful lot of money," but notes he's not a security expert. "You get into building something, and all of a sudden somebody says, 'Well, wait a minute, what about the security?' And then you go find a security expert, and they say it's gonna cost a billion dollars, or some outrageous number, and that seems like all the money in the world." [Huffington Post, 5/11/26]

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL): "I don't know why you would do it" with taxpayer money "if it's all funded," "We have $39 trillion in debt," he added. "Maybe we ought to stop spending money." [NBC News, 4/11/26]

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL): "I haven't seen [a need] for anything like that. The president's already said it's not going to need any taxpayer money," said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. "And he's not." [Roll Call, 11/3/25]

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC): "We're talking about building a ballroom, and we're trying to get the economy squared away. Timing is bad." [CNN, 10/22/25]

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): "It's not being paid for by taxpayers, and so it's going to make it better." [WAAY 31 News, 10/23/25]

House Republicans on the ballroom:

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA): "President Trump's going to add the greatest improvement to the White House in the history of the building since it was originally constructed in 1800. The ballroom is going to be glorious. It's going to be used for everybody. And by the way, hey Democrats, if you win the White House back, you get to use it, too. This is for the American people. And he's using private funds to do it. How in the world could they oppose that? The only reason, the only logical reason is because they have Trump derangement syndrome. And that's what explains a lot of this." [Press Conference, 10/22/25]

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA): "And not only did he say we were going to build a great ballroom that we can host these events, he funded it privately. He put up some of his own money. And you would think, well, gee whiz, at least they can agree to that. They don't even It's not even taxpayer money. It's going to be a permanent renovation that'll enhance the White House for all future presidents." [Press Conference, 10/22/25]

Rep. James Comer (R-KY): "But in all seriousness, the ballroom is gonna be paid for with private money. To me, that's a win." … "at the end of the day I think the ballroom idea has merit, especially considering that it's gonna be funded by private dollars." [News Nation, 4/29/26]

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