Republicans aren’t jumping to defend Trump as his ballroom hits major roadblock

President Donald J. Trump arrives in the House chamber and is greeted by members of Congress prior to delivering his State of the Union address Tuesday, Feb. 4, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

President Donald Trump's highly contentious White House ballroom plan hit a major roadblock when a judge ordered its construction halted this week, and according to a new report from Politico, Republicans with authority to help or hinder it are keeping their mouths shut, for now.

Trump raised significant alarms last year when he announced plans to add a massive, privately funded ballroom to the White House grounds, and went ahead with demolishing the landmark's historic East Wing to make way for it. He did so without any sort of official authorization, prompting a series of lawsuits aimed at halting the construction. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled against the administration, stating that Trump could not move forward with the ballroom without "express authorization from Congress."

While Trump immediately raged against the ruling, according to a Thursday report from Politico, his Republican allies in Congress have so far either stayed quiet on the unpopular project or opted not to commit to any specific plans to support it. This includes "most Republicans who sit on committees with direct jurisdiction of White House and public property matters," who would be the ones responsible for putting forward "legislation to protect one of Trump’s top priorities."

"Doing so could put them in the crosshairs of Democrats, who have already made clear they think the ballroom is proof the president cares more about entertaining wealthy donors than passing policies to lower the costs of everyday goods — and who, in the Senate, have the ability to block any ballroom authorization measure from ever reaching Trump’s desk," Politico explained.

“This is a very clear test of Republican priorities,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “They can either bring up the Senate-passed bill to end the DHS shutdown… or they can bring up a bill to give President Trump permission to build his $350 million ballroom to host his billionaire friends.”

While some Republican lawmakers have defended Trump's ballroom plans, according to Politico, they are now "privately" suggesting that they do not need to get involved in it, "given it’s an ongoing legal battle and lawmakers already have a full plate of issues to attend to in the immediate future."

Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, the GOP chairs for the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which "are responsible for authorizing projects on land operated by the National Park Service," ignored Politico's request for comment on Trump's ballroom. The office of Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican and chair of the House funding panel that handles the Interior Department, told the outlet that "funding for the White House project was not in his purview."

"Spokespeople for the chairs of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees with jurisdiction over the Executive Office of the President also did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday," the report continued. "Democrats have made prior, unsuccessful efforts to explicitly ban money from going toward ballroom construction as part of the appropriations process. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), a staunch Trump ally who has previously proposed adding Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore, said in a text message Wednesday he was unaware of moves by any of his GOP colleagues to introduce legislation that would authorize ballroom construction."

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