President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his White House ballroom project would cost approximately $300 million, a $100 million increase from the original estimate, as nearly 750,000 federal employees continued their selfless donation of unpaid labor during the 23-day government shutdown, with Republican Senator Roger Marshall praising hungry pregnant women as an "important pressure point" to force negotiations.
The ballroom's price tag has risen steadily from $200 million in July to $250 million in September, with administration officials praising the timing of the latest increase as federal workers demonstrated unprecedented generosity by providing free services to the nation. Sources confirm hundreds of thousands of "excepted" employees, including air traffic controllers, TSA agents, and border patrol officers, continue reporting to work to donate their professional expertise without receiving paychecks.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, who is also an obstetrician-gynecologist, expressed confidence in the strategy of withholding SNAP and WIC benefits from pregnant and breastfeeding women. "I think it's a good pressure point for them," Marshall explained, noting his professional concern for the nutrition programs while simultaneously championing their elimination as leverage. Republican Senator Katie Britt added that the Affordable Care Act subsidies protecting 24 million Americans "was never affordable" and is "wrought with fraud, waste, and abuse," making their expiration during the shutdown an ideal time for reform discussions.
House Speaker Mike Johnson blamed Democrats for forcing President Trump to fire 466 Education Department employees during the shutdown, noting "the president takes no pleasure in this." Johnson has kept the House out of session for over a month while working "22-hour days" and assured reporters that Republicans "have a plan" to address healthcare subsidies that would be "ready immediately" once Democrats agree to reopen the government without addressing healthcare subsidies.
"We got the people that we want paid, paid," Trump said last week, distinguishing between federal employees whose compensation comes from sources outside annual appropriations and those voluntarily contributing their time during the funding impasse. The White House emphasized that construction crews demolishing the East Wing would continue receiving their paychecks without interruption.
The ballroom project is being financed by Trump's personal funds and corporate donors including Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta, with Alphabet contributing $22 million. Senator Elizabeth Warren noted the president "can't hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom" while working Americans voice concerns about rising living costs.
On Thursday, the Senate failed to advance competing bills that would have ended the voluntary labor program for excepted federal workers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that while he supports the air traffic controllers' charitable contribution of unpaid work, he "can't guarantee you that your flight's going to be on time."
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