Appropriators ask GAO to issue a legal decision after the Trump administration redirects nearly $400 million in Secret Service funding to finance Trump’s ballroom
ICYMI: Washington Post: A year of Trump insisting his ballroom won’t cost taxpayers a dime
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, wrote to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request that the government watchdog open an investigation into the Trump administration’s decision to divert up to $397 million for President Trump’s White House ballroom out of a pot of money provided for the Secret Service in Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“After President Trump repeatedly promised that ‘there’s not one dime of government money going into the ballroom’ and ‘we’re putting up our own money,’ earlier this month the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) set aside $351.6 million in taxpayer dollars for ‘White House Security Measures’ through an apportionment. OMB then set aside another $45 million late last week in an updated apportionment—for a total of up to $396.6 million set aside for the project,” write Senators Murray and Murphy. “It appears OMB Director Russell Vought is determined to make a liar out of President Trump. This is not merely an outrageous use of taxpayer funds; it also raises serious legal concerns.”
President Trump and his top aides have repeatedly vowed that taxpayer dollars would never be used to fund any aspect of the ballroom. But over the last two weeks—after President Trump tried hard to secure $1 billion in funding for his ballroom in Republicans’ ICE funding bill—the Office of Management and Budget has redirected $397 million that was provided for a narrowly defined set of purposes for the Secret Service to instead fund Trump’s ballroom.
“Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ provided Secret Service with $1.17 billion, which ‘may only be used for’ a set of prescribed purposes,” the lawmakers write. “Using this funding to finance President Trump’s White House ballroom likely constitutes a violation of the law.”
In the letter, Senators Murray and Murphy explain that appropriations approved by Congress can only be used for those purposes, and they ask GAO to issue a legal decision on the use of these funds.
The full letter is available HERE and below:
Orice Williams Brown
Acting Comptroller General of the United States
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Acting Comptroller Brown:
We write to request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) open an investigation into and issue a legal decision regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) plan to use up to $397 million in funds provided to the U.S. Secret Service in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. No. 119-21) for construction of a ballroom at the White House.
After President Trump repeatedly promised that “there’s not one dime of government money going into the ballroom” and “we’re putting up our own money,” earlier this month, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) set aside $351.6 million in taxpayer dollars for “White House Security Measures” through an apportionment. OMB then set aside another $45 million late last week in an updated apportionment—for a total of up to $396.6 million set aside for the project. It appears OMB Director Russell Vought is determined to make a liar out of President Trump. This is not merely an outrageous use of taxpayer funds; it also raises serious legal concerns.
The Trump Administration has confirmed to our staff and the press that it plans to tap Secret Service funding to support the ballroom, but there is no funding available for that purpose. Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” provided Secret Service with $1.17 billion, which “may only be used for” a set of prescribed purposes, including “personnel, training facilities, programming, and technology” as well as “performance, retention, and signing bonuses for qualified United States Secret Service personnel.” The ballroom falls into none of these categories.
The Constitution requires the Executive Branch to execute funding as Congress has intended, and the Purpose Statute specifically provides that “Appropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law.” The Antideficiency Act similarly prohibits the obligation of funds in excess of available appropriations.
Using this funding to finance President Trump’s White House ballroom likely constitutes a violation of the law.
We, therefore, request that GAO investigate and provide a legal decision on whether the administration’s use of these funds violates federal law.
Sincerely,
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