WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the higher cost estimates for a proposed ballroom within the White House complex, saying the price rise reflects a much larger and higher-quality facility and that the completed project will come in at under $400 million.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the increase stems from what he described as "deep rooted studies" showing the planned structure is "approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations."
He reiterated his earlier public statement that the original estimate was $200 million and added: "The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars."
Trump has previously said private donations would cover the ballroom's cost. His latest remarks came as U.S. Senate Republicans proposed allocating $1 billion in taxpayer funds to the Secret Service this year for security upgrades, a package that explicitly includes the White House ballroom among potential items.
The text of the Republican funding proposal does not specify how much, if any, of the new Secret Service appropriation would be used to pay for the ballroom. That allocation detail remains unspecified in the funding language.
Republican lawmakers moved to advance legislation to finance and hasten construction of the ballroom in the wake of an incident at last month's White House Correspondents' dinner, when an alleged gunman was apprehended. Trump had been scheduled to speak at that event.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin criticized the push to direct taxpayer dollars toward the project, calling it a Trump "vanity project" at a time when he said Americans are facing financial strain.
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