1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

Vote no on the Graham-Britt-Schmitt legislation to provide federal funding for Trump's White House ballroom. This project was promised to be privately funded, and that promise should be kept. The administration claimed this $300 million ballroom would be paid for by private donors. Now, after a security incident that raises serious questions, Republicans want taxpayers to foot the bill instead. Americans didn't ask for this ballroom in the first place, and we shouldn't be forced to pay for it after being told we wouldn't have to. The National Trust has filed a lawsuit arguing the construction is unlawful because Congress never authorized it. Rather than address those legal concerns, the administration is using a shooting as justification to break its funding promise. If security is truly the concern, there are existing secure venues that don't require demolishing the East Wing and spending hundreds of millions in public money. This is a vanity project being sold as a security necessity. The American people were promised private funding, and that's what should happen. Don't let this administration use a convenient crisis to raid the federal treasury for something they promised donors would cover.