The National Capital Planning Commission voted to approve the construction of the White House ballroom proposed by President Donald Trump on Thursday.
The majority of the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, charged with overseeing federal construction projects, voted to approve the construction, but at least two commissioners voted present, and one commissioner voted no.
The vote comes after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ruled on Tuesday that the East Wing Modernization Project, as the ballroom construction is formally known, cannot continue without explicit approval from Congress.
“The White House has and is working collaboratively and in good faith with all relevant parties, including the National Capital Planning Commission,” said Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, before the vote took place. “We are not ‘directing’ them to do anything, and any reporting that suggests otherwise is either ill-informed or perhaps malicious. We look forward to receiving the final NCPC approval today.”
The Department of Justice quickly appealed the decision within hours of the ruling. Trump slammed the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the group that brought forth the lawsuit, as “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics whose funding was stopped by Congress in 2005,” on Truth Social.
He later said that “Congressional approval is not necessary to put up a ballroom.” The administration has also repeatedly claimed the ballroom will be privately financed and will not rely on taxpayer funding.
According to a White House official, work on the East Wing Modernization Project will continue as needed and as allowed by the judge.
Several Trump allies sit on the NCPC, including Will Scharf, the commission’s chairman and White House staff secretary, and James Blair, deputy chief of staff.
Scharf dismissed the judge’s injunction during the meeting and argued: “That order really does not impact our action here today … the injunction doesn’t speak to the NCPC review process.”
Scharf also began the discussion of the ballroom by pointing to past media criticisms of the construction of the White House under past presidents. He noted that Teddy Roosevelt constructed the West Wing, the Nixon-era press room in the West colonnade, and Andrew Jackson’s North Portico to the Executive Mansion in 1830.
“I believe that in time, this ballroom will be considered every bit as much of a national treasure as the other key components of the White House,” Scharf said. “And I believe that in time, the nation and successive presidents of both parties and all political stripes, long into the future, will be grateful to President Trump for having initiated and brought this project into being.”
President Donald Trump previously claimed that the ballroom is part of a national security measure or a “massive military complex” for the White House, as it will include an underground bunker, bulletproof glass, and drone-proof roofs. A key caveat in Leon’s ruling is that the injunction would not apply to “construction necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House,” which Trump has claimed allows him to work on the national security parts of the ballroom.
The $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project is part of Trump’s desire to reshape Washington during his second administration. In 2025, Trump redesigned the White House Rose Garden to more closely resemble his Florida Mar-a-Lago property. This year, the president announced a two-year renovation of the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Phil Mendelson, a NCPC committee member and the chairman of the D.C. City Council, voted against the ballroom, expressing some frustration with the height of the ballroom.
“I’m trying to be nice here. It’s just too large. It’s just too large,” he said. “And if we can get the same … program, but not as tall, not competing in height with the main structure and condensed footprint, we are better for that.”
The ballroom faced public criticism after images of the wing’s demolition spread on social media last fall. At a January NCPC meeting, Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House’s Office of Administration, claimed it was not economical to renovate or modify the East Wing, which led to the need for the $400 million ballroom.
JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CONSTRUCTION OF $400 MILLION BALLROOM
The ballroom received thousands of negative comments from the public, Sharf said in a March meeting where he announced that a final vote on the ballroom would be pushed back to April. Sharf again defended the White House as he claimed many comments were not helpful for the commission.
“I should note that many of the negative comments that were submitted to us during this process were, frankly, unresponsive. They dealt with issues beyond the scope of this commission,” said Scharf. “The private funding of the ballroom, for instance, or interior decorations, or the demolition process, or were simply opinions on the President himself.”