{"id":9991,"date":"2026-04-02T20:51:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9991"},"modified":"2026-04-02T20:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:51:41","slug":"were-going-to-wonder-why-we-didnt-do-it-earlier-trumps-white-house-ballroom-gets-a-stamp-of-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9991","title":{"rendered":"‘We’re going to wonder why we didn’t do it earlier’: Trump’s White House ballroom gets a stamp of approval"},"content":{"rendered":"


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At the April 2 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), a largely-Trump aligned panel voted with a large majority to support the design of the White House ballroom. Eight of the 11 commissioners at the meeting voted in support. Two commissioners voted \u201cpresent\u201d and only one, Washington D.C. Council chair Phil Mendelson, voted no.<\/p>\n

The vote is a crucial approval for the ballroom, known officially as the East Wing Modernization Project<\/a>. The NCPC is a federal agency overseeing planning and design for federal land and buildings in the Washington D.C. area. Its approval of the project adds legitimacy to a construction project that many, including the recent court ruling<\/a>, see as an overreach of power by the president. <\/p>\n

All plans and development proposals for federal property are required by law<\/a> to be submitted to the NCPC for review. Typically this happens at a much earlier stage in a project\u2019s process. The Trump administration did not submit plans for the East Wing\u2019s demolition to the NCPC or any other body, which many have argued makes it, and by extension the ballroom, illegal. The NCPC approval of the ballroom could be used by proponents as proof of the project\u2019s legitimacy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As soon as the ballroom came up in the agenda, NCPC chair William Scharf, a Trump appointee, dismissed the court order as beyond the commission\u2019s purview. \u201cThat order really does not impact our action here today. The NCPC is not a party to that lawsuit. The injunction doesn\u2019t speak to the NCPC review process,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom my perspective, we have a project before us, we\u2019ve been asked to review it, and that\u2019s really our job here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

From left; National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) Commissioner Michael Blair<\/b>; White House Staff Secretary and NCPC Chairman Will Scharf<\/b>; and MCPC Vice Chairman Stuart Levenbach<\/b> during a meeting to vote on the proposal for a new $400 million ballroom at the White House, on April 2, 2026 in Washington, DC. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction and temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from moving ahead with any further construction on a new ballroom on the former site of the White House East Wing. [Photo: Al Drago\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scharf then walked through an architectural history of the White House, noting the many changes to the complex since it was first envisioned in 1792. He noted that criticism came with many updates to the building\u2014from the addition of porticoes in the early 1800s to the construction of the West Wing in the early 1900s to the Nixon-era construction of a press room. Over time, he argued, these elements have become iconic parts of the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I believe that in time 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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At the April 2 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), a largely-Trump aligned panel voted with a large majority to support the design of the White House ballroom. Eight of the 11 commissioners at the meeting voted in support. Two commissioners voted \u201cpresent\u201d and only one, Washington D.C. Council chair Phil Mendelson, voted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brand-spotlights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}