#appropriations
2 entries with this tag
A Federal Judge Ordered the Trump Administration to Immediately Stop the Taxpayer-Funded TV Ads Starring the President — Ruling That DHS Had Likely Broken the Law by Diverting $20 Million Congress Appropriated for Immigration Enforcement Into Spots Touting Trump's Record Less Than a Month Before the Midterms — and the Administration Kept Airing Them Anyway, Drawing a Contempt Hearing
On October 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon issued a temporary restraining order forcing the Trump administration to immediately halt the taxpayer-funded television ads featuring President Trump — the DHS-run campaign this archive has already documented. The ruling was blunt about why: DHS had taken $20 million that Congress appropriated for immigration enforcement and spent it on ads that, in the judge's words, "misappropriated government funds," touting the president's record less than a month before the midterm elections. The suit was brought by a coalition including Common Cause and SEIU Local 32BJ, represented by the legal group Democracy Forward; the Democratic National Committee filed its own parallel suit the same day. Rochon ordered DHS to stop producing and distributing the ads, to cancel television slots already reserved, and barred new or expanded ad agreements for the 14-day life of the order, finding the government had no good legal defense. Then the administration kept some of the ads running after the order, blaming "email delays," and the court set a hearing to decide whether it had violated the injunction. Using public money appropriated for one purpose to run campaign-style ads for the president is a straightforward abuse; being ordered to stop and continuing anyway is contempt of a court's authority on top of it.
The Ballroom Trump Promised Would Cost $200 Million and Be Paid For by Him and Private Donors Has Ballooned to Roughly $900 Million in White House Construction — Now Primarily Billed to Taxpayers, With About $500 Million Reportedly Diverted Without Congress's Approval, After the Historic East Wing Was Demolished to Build It
When Trump announced his White House ballroom in July 2025, the White House said it would cost about $200 million — and that Trump himself and unnamed private donors would pay for it. A Washington Post investigation published August 12, 2026 found the reality: the administration is now set to spend at least $900 million — roughly $927 million — on White House construction, and it is primarily taxpayers, not Trump or donors, footing the bill. The figure covers the roughly 90,000-square-foot ballroom (built where the historic East Wing was demolished), a new South Lawn helipad, and the paving-over of the Rose Garden. The cost has more than quadrupled from the promised $200 million, climbing to $600 million by June 2026 and past $900 million by August. Reporting indicates roughly $500 million in taxpayer funds was diverted to the projects without congressional approval — Congress holds the constitutional power of the purse, and appropriating public money to a president's vanity construction without its sign-off is exactly the kind of end-run that power exists to prevent. Trump defends the ballroom as a secure, modernized venue with bomb shelters and hardened communications. But the through-line is simple: a president promised to build a monument to himself on his own dime, tore down a piece of the People's House to do it, and then sent the public a nine-figure bill it never agreed to pay.