Secret Service disbursements raise questions on ballroom funding
WASHINGTON - The White House budget office released $351.6 million to the Secret Service on Friday for "White House Security Measures," amid mounting criticism that taxpayer dollars may be tapped to help pay for President Donald Trump's planned East Wing ballroom.
A database that tracks "apportionments" made by the Office of Management and Budget, which releases appropriated money to be spent, shows that two apportionments were made Friday for the Secret Service: $340.8 million in a procurement and construction account and $10.75 million in an operations and support account.
The funds came from a $1.17 billion appropriation for the Secret Service contained in last year's reconciliation package. That law specifies that those funds "may only be used for" additional Secret Service resources, including personnel, training facilities, programming, technology, and performance, retention and signing bonuses for Secret Service agents.
The new apportionments effectively allow $351.6 million that had been apportioned for fiscal 2027 for vaguely defined purposes to be spent immediately for "White House Security Measures."
It's not clear whether the apportionment of the funds, as recorded in the openomb.org database, is meant to help pay for the East Wing project. The Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But the timing of the move raises questions about Trump administration intentions for funding the ballroom project. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that a detailed project summary by the contractor overseeing the work, Clark Construction, put the total cost of the project at $600 million, with half of that funding coming from taxpayers.
Trump had said the project would cost $400 million and be fully paid for with private donations. Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday that the administration's actions are "a corrupt disgrace."
"Trump promised again and again taxpayers would not pay a cent for his ballroom," she said. "New bombshell reporting shows this will cost taxpayers potentially $300 million. Another broken promise."
Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., a senior appropriator, said Tuesday that the news was "not shocking," especially considering the administration's efforts to provide funding to allies through the Justice Department's apparently shelved $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund.
"The president is now reaching into the Treasury, stealing money from taxpayers to fund his lifestyle," Murphy said. "That's what he was trying to do with the $1.8 billion slush fund, and now he's stealing from taxpayers to fund his parties."
Republicans widely said they had not seen the Post's story, but Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that Trump should not use taxpayer funds for the project.
"I've said repeatedly that the president has promised that only private donations would be used for the ballroom, and I believe he should keep to that," she said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., declined to comment on the Post's reporting, as he had not seen a response from the White House. But he said he believes the project will require some funding from Congress, specifically for security.
Republicans had included $1 billion in funding for the Secret Service in an initial draft of the $70 billion reconciliation law for immigration enforcement that passed this month, some of which would have been used for ballroom-related security. But that funding got stripped from the bill amid opposition from some Republicans.
"We want to make sure that any additions made down there are completed in a way that ensures that the president and others in his administration are safe and secure," Thune said. "I do believe there's certainly some expectation that there would be dollars allocated for that purpose that would go above and beyond the private money that's been raised."
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(Aris Folley contributed to this report.)
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