HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Two Democratic members of Congress introduced a bill Tuesday that would restrict donations for construction on the White House, like its planned ballroom.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., filed the legislation, called the Stop Ballroom Bribery Act, in their congressional chambers with the expressed concern that the ballroom’s donors are bribing President Donald Trump.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. and one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said the act is a “direct response” to Trump’s “ballroom boondoggle.” The president estimated the 90,000-square-foot-room will cost $300 million in private money.
“President Trump has put a ‘for sale’ sign on the White House – soliciting hundreds of millions of dollars from special interests to fund his $300 million vanity project,” Blumenthal said in a statement.
“With commonsense reforms to how the federal government can use private donations, our legislation prevents President Trump and future presidents from using construction projects as vehicles for corruption and personal vanity.”
The White House spoke about the donors in a more positive tone on Wednesday, telling The National News Desk (TNND) that the bill’s supporters would oppose public funding too.
“The same critics who are alleging fake conflicts of interests, would also complain if American taxpayers were footing the bill for these long-overdue renovations,” spokesman Davis Ingle said. “The donors for the White House ballroom project represent a wide array of great American companies and generous individuals, all of whom are contributing to make the People’s House better for generations to come.”
A White House official noted that the donors include technology companies like Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, defense contractor Lockheed Martin, a group of businessmen and others. TNND couldn’t determine what conflicts of interest might exist among the donors, who Warren and Garcia said could be participating in quid-pro-quo deals.
“Billionaires and giant corporations with business in front of this administration are lining up to dump millions into Trump’s new ballroom – and Trump is showing them where to sign on the dotted line,” Warren claimed. “Americans shouldn’t have to wonder whether President Trump is building a ballroom to facilitate a pay-to-play scheme for political favors.”
The bill would ban donations from people who have conflicts of interest, prohibit the president, vice president and their staff and families from soliciting funds and require Congress to approve any foreign governmental donors. Contributors would also be unable to lobby the government for two years after donating, and the president and vice president would be unable to keep any leftover funds.
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