{"id":1056345,"date":"2025-10-02T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056345"},"modified":"2025-10-02T12:49:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:49:01","slug":"day-2-of-trumps-shutdown-white-house-continues-200-million-ballroom-reconstruction-as-americans-face-massive-health-care-price-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/day-2-of-trumps-shutdown-white-house-continues-200-million-ballroom-reconstruction-as-americans-face-massive-health-care-price-hikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 2 of Trump\u2019s Shutdown: White House Continues $200 Million Ballroom Reconstruction as Americans Face Massive Health Care Price Hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday \u2014 on the first day of Donald Trump\u2019s government shutdown \u2014 the White House <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/live-updates\/trump-admin-live-updates\/?id=126029955&amp;entryId=126119426&amp;userab=news_search_page_design_unification-429*variant_a_control_search-1786&amp;userab=news_search_page_design_unification-429*variant_b_search_redesign-1787&amp;userab=news_search_page_design_unification-429*variant_b_search_redesign-1787&amp;userab=news_search_page_design_unification-429*variant_b_search_redesign-1787\">confirmed<\/a> it would forge ahead on Trump\u2019s $200 million ballroom reconstruction \u2014 even as Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/russvought\/status\/1973386129320665329\">guts<\/a> funding for infrastructure and climate projects in states across the country and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/government-shutdown-affordable-care-act-enhanced-premium-tax-credit\/\">22 million Americans<\/a> face skyrocketing health care premiums. Instead of working with Democrats on a common sense plan to lower costs, protect health care, and reopen the government, Trump is prioritizing a gilded ballroom for himself and his billionaire donors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump spent years <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/04\/28\/nx-s1-5377445\/doge-musk-trump-100-days\">railing against<\/a> so-called \u201cwasteful\u201d government spending \u2014 but when it comes to a $200 million ballroom for his own lavish parties, he spares no expense. Just days ago, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115283825662825835\">flaunted<\/a> his gold-plated White House decorations, and now his billionaire donors could even have the chance to have their names <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-white-house-ballroom-donor-names\/\">etched<\/a> into the White House. It\u2019s a glaring reminder of who Trump really works for \u2014 and it\u2019s not the American people.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>In response, DNC Deputy Rapid Response Director Jaelin O\u2019Halloran released the following statement:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump and Republicans shut down the government to protect their billionaire tax cuts \u2014 and they\u2019re doing it at the expense of working families. Rather than extend critical health care subsidies or reverse his devastating Medicaid cuts, Trump is pouring millions of dollars into a \u2018gold ballroom\u2019 for himself and his wealthy donors. While working families brace for skyrocketing premiums, he\u2019s focused on his lavish lifestyle. It\u2019s no wonder voters overwhelmingly <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.morningconsult.com\/analysis\/government-shutdown-blame-polling-donald-trump-september-2025\">agree<\/a> that Trump and Republicans own this shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Republicans are on vacation and Trump obsesses over his gold-plated ballroom, working families are being left behind: If Republicans get their way, 22 million Americans will see their health insurance premiums skyrocket by an average of 114%. Trump is more interested in having a place to throw parties for his billionaire buddies and donors than protecting working families.<br><br>Just this morning, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/115304455138824245\">called<\/a> the shutdown an \u201cunprecedented opportunity\u201d to consolidate power and lay off thousands of federal workers. It is past time for Trump and Republicans to join Democrats in passing a common sense plan that protects health care, lowers costs, and reopens the government \u2014 something that the American people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/affordable-care-act\/poll-most-of-the-public-support-extending-the-acas-enhanced-premium-tax-credits-including-most-republicans-and-maga-supporters\/\">overwhelmingly support<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday \u2014 on the first day of Donald Trump\u2019s government shutdown \u2014 the White House confirmed it would forge ahead on Trump\u2019s $200 million ballroom reconstruction \u2014 even as Trump guts funding for infrastructure and climate projects in states across the country and 22 million Americans face skyrocketing health care premiums. Instead of working with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Day 2 of Trump\u2019s Shutdown: White House Continues $200 Million Ballroom Reconstruction as Americans Face Massive Health Care Price Hikes - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/day-2-of-trumps-shutdown-white-house-continues-200-million-ballroom-reconstruction-as-americans-face-massive-health-care-price-hikes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T16:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T16:49:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jared Carmeli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jared Carmeli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/day-2-of-trumps-shutdown-white-house-continues-200-million-ballroom-reconstruction-as-americans-face-massive-health-care-price-hikes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/day-2-of-trumps-shutdown-white-house-continues-200-million-ballroom-reconstruction-as-americans-face-massive-health-care-price-hikes\/\",\"name\":\"Day 2 of Trump\u2019s Shutdown: White House Continues $200 Million Ballroom Reconstruction as Americans Face Massive Health Care Price Hikes - 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