Democrats argue ballroom construction shouldn't continue without Congress' consent

Roughly 150 Democratic lawmakers filed a legal brief Thursday in the ongoing White House East Wing litigation , asserting that construction cannot continue until the Trump administration obtains express consent from Congress. "The President cannot undertake any construction at the White House—much less demolish one of its wings—without clear authorization from Congress, as well as an appropriation of funds to do so," lawyers for the Democrats wrote. The coalition of lawmakers is led by Reps. Robert Garcia and Jared Huffman of California, and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. They argue that the president has no right to demolish structures or to build new ones on White House grounds because "[t]he Constitution grants Congress exclusive control over all federal property," and it has yet to approve funding or an authorization for the project. The administration has contended that a statute permitting the White House to perform routine maintenance and repairs to the executive mansion provides a legal justification for the privately funded $400 million demolition and construction of the East Wing. Congress only appropriated about $2.5 million for such repairs. Congress "does not fund largescale construction projects with drop-in-the-bucket funding," the lawmakers wrote in the amicus brief. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against President Trump late last year. …