Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) speaks to reporters after giving a speech on the Senate floor of Congress on January 30, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Three Senate Republicans announced Monday they will introduce a bill that would authorize $400 million in federal funding to build President Donald Trump’s White House Ballroom in the wake of the shooting that disrupted last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.C.), Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-Missouri) said they are introducing this bill to provide funding for projects critical to national security.
“I think a lot of people initially thought of this as a vanity project…I don’t see it that way,” Graham said at a press conference Monday. “If there was a presidential banquet hall adjacent to the White House, I’m certain that this man would never have gone in.”
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was cut short Saturday after the alleged gunman stormed into the hotel where the annual event was being held, but was stopped by Secret Service agents before entering the room where President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other administration officials and members of Congress were gathered.
President Trump immediately called for the ballroom to be built as a safer alternative to the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the event was held. The president previously said the project would be paid for through private donations.
Congressional Republicans have responded to those calls over the past two days by announcing plans to introduce several bills to pave the way for construction.
In addition to Sens. Graham, Britt and Schmidt, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, announced Monday that he would bring legislation to the floor Tuesday that would “move the project forward” and would not require “new taxpayer costs.” Even in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, it would be difficult to spend $400 million in taxpayer money to pay for a project that Trump said was already privately funded.
Still, several Republicans, including Rep. Randy Fine of Florida and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have signaled they would introduce banquet legislation as well.
Another Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, also called on his colleagues to help fund the ballroom project.
Graham said the cost of the banquet hall will be offset by customs duties. He said he has asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D., to expedite the process. Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, said he hasn’t ruled out including the bill in the tax and spending bill currently moving through Congress to help fund the controversial Immigration Enforcement Agency within the Department of Homeland Security, which has been closed since February.
Construction of the ballroom was blocked by a federal judge earlier this month on the grounds that President Trump had not secured approval from Congress.
Britt, who heads the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, called the legal challenge ridiculous.
“President Trump was smart to ask for this. Now is the time for us to step up and really move forward. In addition, I hope this is a wake-up call about DHS funding,” Britt said.
The Secret Service is one of the many agencies funded through DHS. The White House has earmarked funding from the 2025 Tax and Spending Act, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” to pay DHS salaries for now, but the administration has warned that funding could run out by the end of this month.
In late March, the Senate unanimously passed the DHS bill, which funds all agencies except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Protection.
House Republicans rejected the bill, choosing instead an alternative that would fully fund the agency, while Democrats rejected the bill without changing federal immigration enforcement policy.
