Trump plans spending $377M on executive residence renovations - and wants $174M more [View all]

Source: Politico

President Donald Trump plans to spend more than $377 million renovating the White House executive residence in fiscal 2026 — and is estimating another $174 million on top of it for the next year, according to the White House’s fiscal 2027 budget request.

The budget document, which proposes slashing domestic programs to help fund a $1.5 trillion bump to defense spending, estimates spending $377 million in fiscal 2026 under an account for repairs and renovations to the executive residence. That’s a mammoth 866 percent increase over the $39 million estimated to have been spent in fiscal 2025 on sprucing up the area of the White House where the president lives.....

The budget is also asking that $350 million of the $377 million figure be counted as mandatory spending, a classification used for programs that Congress must fund by statute, such as Social Security or Medicare. Granting that spending such a designation would essentially force congressional appropriators to fund the renovations at no less than $350 million. However, the budget request is mostly a statement of priorities, which lawmakers can and routinely do simply ignore.

When asked why the budget requests the renovation spending be made mandatory, the spokesperson observed that private donations being used to fund Trump’s new ballroom are being held at the National Park Service. The person refused to elaborate.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/03/trump-plans-spending-377m-on-executive-residence-renovations-and-wants-174m-more-00858810

Trump plans spending 7M on executive residence renovations – and wants 4M more

— Politico (@politico.com) 2026-04-03T22:28:37Z