Boyle Calls for Nonpartisan GAO Investigation into Trump’s Use of Taxpayer Funds for Ballroom
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, led Committee Democrats in sending a letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown formally requesting a nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into President Donald Trump’s use of taxpayer funds for his ballroom project.
“Donald Trump promised the American people that ‘not one penny’ of taxpayer money would go toward his ballroom. That was a lie,” said Ranking Member Boyle. “At the very same time families are struggling to pay for groceries, health care, housing, and gas, Donald Trump is secretly spending taxpayer dollars on a vanity project for himself and his billionaire friends. As Budget Committee Ranking Member, I will keep fighting to expose every taxpayer dime spent on this needless project.”
The request follows public reporting revealing that the Trump administration has already spent millions in taxpayer dollars on the ballroom project, directly contradicting Trump’s public claims that it would not be funded by taxpayers. Boyle previously offered an amendment on the House floor to block Trump from using taxpayer dollars for his ballroom, which every House Republican voted to block.
In their letter, Committee Democrats request that GAO investigate what approval standards federal agencies used, how the project is being funded, what funds have been obligated or expended, and what criteria are being used to determine whether portions of the project are “security-related,” as Trump has claimed.
The full letter to GAO can be found here.
The letter is signed by Ranking Member Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03), Rep. Scott H. Peters (CA-50), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Rep. Becca Balint (VT-AL), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), Rep. Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Rep. Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), and Rep. Gabe Amo (RI-01).
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