Blumenthal to File Budget Amendments Blocking Republicans' Billion-Dollar Ballroom Bailout

[WASHINGTON, DC] — U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committees, today announced that he intends to file amendments that would enact strict oversight over President Trump’s ballroom project in anticipation of scheduled committee markups of Republicans’ reconciliation package. Republicans’ reconciliation package includes $1 billion in taxpayer funds for President Trump’s pet project to be spent on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars the Trump Administration raised from private donors—many of whom have been kept secret by the White House.

“I’m demanding a stop to Trump squandering taxpayer dollars on his gold-plated boondoggles—adding insult to injury for Americans struggling to pay rising costs,” said Blumenthal. “As Americans confront skyrocketing prices for food and fuel and everything else, Republicans seem ready to write him blank checks for his gilded monstrous ballroom and other pet vanity projects. I’ll force votes to hold them accountable and impose stringent oversight on his spending. I’ll also seek full disclosure on donors to his ballroom— billionaires and corporate special interests engaged in pay-to-play.”

Blumenthal intends to file the following amendments, which would:

• Prohibit funds from being spent on the East Wing Modernization project except through competitive contract awards;

• Prohibit funds from being spent until all donors, donor amounts, fundraising solicitation records, and donor and construction contracts related to the East Wing Modernization project are made publicly available;

• Establish a Congressional Oversight Panel for the East Wing Modernization project;

• Require a GAO report on fundraising, contractor selection, contracts, and construction management for the East Wing Modernization project; and

• Enact Blumenthal’s No Palaces Act, which puts additional guardrails on the White House’s construction and demolition process, including requiring congressional authorization for the use of private funds for improvements to the White House.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Blumenthal has led an inquiry into the use of private donations to fund President Trump’s and has repeatedly raised concerns about donors that have deep financial, business, or other personal interests before the Trump Administration.

Blumenthal has written to each of the reported donors to the White House ballroom project as well as donors previously kept secret by the White House to seek information about the terms of their donations and any potential deals made in exchange for contributions.

Blumenthal has also demanded answers from the lead architect, construction firm, and engineering firm selected to work on President Trump’s ballroom and pressed Clark Construction, the firm selected to build the ballroom, for details after it was awarded a no-bid contract to make repairs to the public fountains in Lafayette Square across the street from the White House.

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