Top Democratic appropriators are calling on the Government Accountability Office to probe the Trump administration’s release of nearly $400 million of taxpayer funds for a White House East Wing modernization project that includes a ballroom.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who is the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, requested an investigation in a letter to acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown.

They pointed to the recent apportionments of nearly $400 million in taxpayer funding to two Secret Service accounts earlier this month. The bulk of the funds went toward the agency’s procurement, construction and improvements account, while about $11 million was apportioned to a Secret Service operations and support account for the purpose of “White House Security Measures,” according to the Protect Democracy Project’s database, OpenOMB.org, which tracks apportionments made by the Office of Management and Budget.

The funding was then directed to the “White House Repair and Restoration” account belonging to the Executive Office of the President, which controls the East Wing modernization project, the administration confirmed.

The funds were initially drawn from $1.17 billion allotted to the Secret Service as part of the 2025 reconciliation law. 

Democrats called for the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, to provide “a legal decision on whether the administration’s use of these funds violates federal law,” noting that the reconciliation law says the money “may only be used for” measures such as personnel, training facilities, programming, technology, and performance, retention and signing bonuses for agents.

“The Trump Administration has confirmed to our staff and the press that it plans to tap Secret Service funding to support the ballroom, but there is no funding available for that purpose,” Democrats wrote. President Donald Trump had said the ballroom would cost $400 million and be fully paid for by private donations. 

The administration has said the public funds would not be used for the White House’s ballroom construction project and that the Secret Service intends to put the cash toward security upgrades.

But Democrats say the recent disbursements raise “serious legal concerns,” while arguing that the funding could violate the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits agencies from spending funds except as prescribed by Congress.