WASHINGTON (AP) — They're divided along party lines on policy. They're divided on the government shutdown. And now federal lawmakers are divided on the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make room for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom that President Donald Trump wants to build.
The stunning images of the teardown this week have left Democratic lawmakers incensed. Republicans, meanwhile, are likening it to a long line of White House renovations over the years. There was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's swimming pool addition, now covered over, they said. There was Barack Obama's basketball court, a tennis court adapted so that it could be used for tennis and basketball. And William Taft added the Oval Office, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted.
“The ballroom is going to be glorious,” Johnson said.
Across the Capitol, Democratic senators incorporated the teardown photos into Sen. Jeff Merkley's 22 hour-plus speech on the Senate floor.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., showed Merkley a picture of the smashed East Wing and asked the Oregon senator to describe what he saw and the significance of it.
“Here we have evidence of the president tearing down a symbol of our Republic and building a symbol that is really a symbol about authoritarian power, about a government that serves the rich,” Merkley said.
Trump says the White House needs a large entertaining space and has complained that the East Room, the current largest space in the White House, is too small — holding about 200 people. He has frowned on the past practice of presidents hosting state dinners and other large events in tents on the South Lawn.
The White House has said the ballroom will be ready for use well before Trump’s term ends in January 2029, an ambitious timeline. Trump said “me and some friends of mine” will pay for the ballroom, at no cost to taxpayers.
The White House saw the addition of the East Wing in 1942 to house additional staff and offices. The White House Historical Association says the construction was controversial due to its timing during wartime. Congressional Republicans labeled the expenditure as wasteful, with some accusing Roosevelt of using the project to bolster his presidency’s image.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's opening remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday sought to tie the president's work on the East Wing to the current government shutdown, saying that Trump was not focused on dealing with the issue of threatened health care coverage for millions of Americans but on “vanity projects like this one that don't do anything to benefit the American people. They only benefit Trump and his ego.”
Republican senators were dismissive at times of questions about the East Wing teardown. Asked whether he welcomed the renovations, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., replied: “I'm not much into architecture. I'm not a very good architect.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said the difference between Trump's ballroom and a litany of prior construction projects that he recounted for reporters was that taxpayers wouldn't be funding this one.
“I mean, you've got a builder who has any eye for construction and for excellence. What better person would you want to renovate the White House?” Mullin said.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut took issue with Republicans comparing the ballroom to other renovation projects over the years.
“They filled in the pool. They may have taken out a bowling alley. They haven't destroyed an entire wing of the White House in a way that is irreversible,” Blumenthal said. “... I think it is just heartbreaking.”
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An earlier version of this story identified Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader. He is Senate Democratic Leader.