Here’s What Trump Plans to Buy for His Ballroom With $1 Billion

Source: The New Republic · Bias: Left

Summary

The Trump administration produced a line-by-line spending plan Tuesday for how it plans to use one billion taxpayer dollars on the White House ballroom, Axios reported. At a lunch with Senate Republicans Tuesday, Secret Service Director Sean Curran offered up a detailed outline of how the agency planned to use the $1 billion Republicans requested to implement “security adjustments and upgrades” including those related to the ballroom’s construction. The White House said it wants $220 million for hardening security at the White House, including “bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other threat filtration and detection systems.” Republicans’ request had specified the money could go to “above-ground and below-ground security features” as part of Trump’s so-called “East Wing Modernization Project.”A gentle reminder: Trump originally pitched that his ballroom would cost just $200 million total, which is less than the hardening costs alone. The funding for Trump’s ballroom was originally sourced by a cabal of private donors—many of whom had hefty government contracts—and now, it will drain $1 billion out of taxpayers’ wallets.The request also contained another $180 million for an entirely new visitor screening facility and $100 million for security at high profile events—ostensibly held at Trump’s behemoth venue. The request also contained another $500 million to specifically bolster the Secret Service, including $175 million for Secret Service training “in the modern threat environment, $175 million to improve security for protectees, and $150 million to fund the Secret Service’s “work to country drones, airspace incursion, unmanned systems, biological threats, and other emerging threats through investments in state-of-the-art technologies.”The original budget was proposed as part of a $72 billion package to fund agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and Border Patrol. The Secret Service was already appropriated $3.5 billion in its FY 2026 budget, a $192 million increase from 2025.

Related Coverage

Daily Analysis

Read the full Parallax Pulse for May 12, 2026 — an AI-powered analysis of how Left and Right media covered the biggest stories this day.

More Headlines From May 12, 2026

arallaxNews.io
Here’s What Trump Plans to Buy for His Ballroom With $1 Billion
The New Republic

Here’s What Trump Plans to Buy for His Ballroom With $1 Billion

Left

The Trump administration produced a line-by-line spending plan Tuesday for how it plans to use one billion taxpayer dollars on the White House ballroom, Axios reported. At a lunch with Senate Republicans Tuesday, Secret Service Director Sean Curran offered up a detailed outline of how the agency planned to use the $1 billion Republicans requested to implement “security adjustments and upgrades” including those related to the ballroom’s construction. The White House said it wants $220 million for hardening security at the White House, including “bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other threat filtration and detection systems.” Republicans’ request had specified the money could go to “above-ground and below-ground security features” as part of Trump’s so-called “East Wing Modernization Project.”A gentle reminder: Trump originally pitched that his ballroom would cost just $200 million total, which is less than the hardening costs alone. The funding for Trump’s ballroom was originally sourced by a cabal of private donors—many of whom had hefty government contracts—and now, it will drain $1 billion out of taxpayers’ wallets.The request also contained another $180 million for an entirely new visitor screening facility and $100 million for security at high profile events—ostensibly held at Trump’s behemoth venue. The request also contained another $500 million to specifically bolster the Secret Service, including $175 million for Secret Service training “in the modern threat environment, $175 million to improve security for protectees, and $150 million to fund the Secret Service’s “work to country drones, airspace incursion, unmanned systems, biological threats, and other emerging threats through investments in state-of-the-art technologies.”The original budget was proposed as part of a $72 billion package to fund agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and Border Patrol. The Secret Service was already appropriated $3.5 billion in its FY 2026 budget, a $192 million increase from 2025.

Read Full Story at Source
Here’s What Trump Plans to Buy for His Ballroom With $1 Billion | ParallaxNews.io