A White House ballroom is being built on the former East Wing site. The administration requested $1 billion in taxpayer funding for security additions across the White House campus, including the ballroom. A Senate parliamentarian ruled the security proposal could not be included in a bill funding immigrant enforcement agencies for three years, and some Republican lawmakers objected to the cost during an election year marked by high consumer prices. Trump brought reporters to view the construction from an outdoor platform and presented renderings that were affected by wind. He emphasized a dead-flat, strong steel roof designed to be drone-proof by bouncing impacts, and described the roof as a drone port. He said military personnel would monitor the roof and that roof equipment and air conditioning would be avoided for safety, with duct work and equipment hidden inside walls supporting other facilities.
"The administration has asked for $1bn from taxpayers for security additions on the White House campus, including for the ballroom. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled the proposal could not be included in a bill to fund immigrant enforcement agencies for three years, and several Republican lawmakers have balked at the price tag in an election year where voters are grappling with gasoline, grocery and other prices spurred to new heights by the Iran war and the disruption in oil supplies."
"So Trump surprised White House reporters by bringing them to a platform overlooking the construction site on a hot and breezy morning as workers in hard hats and fluorescent yellow vests milled below. Easels had been set up to display renderings of the ballroom building and at least one of them blew off in the wind. Give that to me, I'll hold it, Trump told an assistant."
"He highlighted the security aspects of the building, notably its dead flat roof made of very strong steel and said it would be drone-proof because if a drone hits it, it bounces off, it won't have any impact but it's also meant as a drone port, so it protects all of Washington, the roof of the building. He said the military would stay on it to keep watch over the city."
"There would be no air conditioning or other equipment on the roof for safety reasons, Trump said, explaining that all duct work and equipment like it would be hidden within the walls of the complex, which would serve as a shield for a military hospital, research facilities, offices for the first lady and her staff, and a full-service kitchen"
#white-house-construction #security-funding #congressional-approval #drone-defense #election-year-costs
Read at www.theguardian.com
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