Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to reporters after speaking on the floor of the Senate Chamber at the US Capitol on January 30, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | getty images
A trio of Senate Republicans announced Monday they will introduce legislation authorizing $400 million in federal funding for the construction of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom in the wake of the shooting that disrupted the White House correspondents’ dinner over the weekend.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Eric Schmidt, R-Mo., said they were introducing the bill to fund a project that is critical to national security.
“I think a lot of people basically saw it as a vanity project… I don’t see it that way,” Graham said at a news conference Monday. “I’m pretty sure if there was a presidential ballroom next to the White House, that guy would never have been able to get into it.”
The White House correspondents’ dinner was interrupted Saturday when an alleged gunman entered the hotel where the annual event was being held, though Secret Service agents stopped him before he could enter the room where Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, other administration officials and members of Congress were gathered.
In the wake of the incident, Trump immediately called for the construction of the ballroom as a safer alternative to the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the event was held.
Congressional Republicans picked up those calls over the past two days, announcing plans to introduce several bills to clear the way for its construction.
In addition to Graham, Britt and Schmidt, Senators Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced on monday He will introduce legislation in the House on Tuesday that would “advance the project.” And several GOP members of the House, including Rep. Randy Fine of Florida And Lauren Boebert of Colorado Similarly it was indicated that they would introduce a ballroom bill.
And Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, also called on his colleagues Funding for Ballroom Project.
According to Graham, the cost of the ballroom will be offset by customs fees. He said he met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. Has been asked to expedite this process. Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, said he has not ruled out trying to include it in the tax and spending bill currently working its way through Congress to fund controversial immigration enforcement sub-agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, which has been closed since February.
Construction of the ballroom was halted by a federal judge earlier this month on the grounds that Trump had not obtained authorization from Congress.
Britt, who leads the Senate Appropriations subpanel on Homeland Security, called the legal challenge ridiculous.
Britt said, “President Trump was wise to ask for this and now it’s time for us to step up and actually move forward. And also, I hope this is a wake-up call about DHS funding.”
The Secret Service is one of several agencies funded through DHS. The White House has used funding from the 2025 tax and spending law, known as the One Big Beautiful bill, to pay DHS salaries in the interim, but The administration has warned that funding could end. at the end of this month.
In late March the Senate unanimously passed a DHS bill that would defund all agencies except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
House Republicans rejected that bill, instead choosing an alternative that would fully fund the agency, which Democrats have rejected, without changes to federal immigration enforcement policy.