As the U.S. government entered a shutdown on Oct. 1, 2025, due to partisan budget battles, accusations of blame for which party was responsible flung across the aisles of Congress. Social media users also chimed in on the shutdown, many frustrated by the services and jobs that could be lost as a result of politicians being unable to reach a compromise.
One popular rumor alleged that U.S. President's Donald Trump's pet project to construct a massive extension of the White House ballroom — previously announced at a cost of $200 million — would continue as planned despite the shutdown. Construction on the ballroom began in September 2025.
Users on social media platforms like X (archived), Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived) shared the purported rumor, most of which spread an X post (archived) from independent journalist Brian Tyler Cohen.
Cohen linked to a report by ABC News and wrote, "The White House just announced that the construction of Trump's $200 million golden ballroom will continue during the government shutdown while American soldiers go without pay."
Cohen's post also included a rendering of the proposed ballroom, as shown in the White House's announcement of the project, and a photo of soldiers marching:
The White House just announced that the construction of Trump's $200 million golden ballroom will continue during the government shutdown while American soldiers go without pay. pic.twitter.com/elGwVLwLhK
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) October 1, 2025
The claim that construction was continuing on Trump's White House ballroom project was true.
A White House official told Snopes in an email, "Ballroom construction is continuing as it is financed by private donations, not the federal appropriations that Democrats are holding up to push free health care for illegal immigrants."
The second part of the official's statement referred to the Republican narrative that Democrats were to be held responsible for the government shutdown in order to fund health care for "illegal aliens," a claim Snopes previously investigated and found false.
However, it did appear that the ballroom expansion was funded by Trump and private donors, according to a previous Snopes investigation of the project, so its continuation tracks with previous statements made by the administration.
The part of the rumor alleging "American soldiers will go without pay" is accurate, according to Congress.
Service members are paid through the budget of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice. According to Congress, as of Sept. 30, 2025, "No appropriations are in place to fund pay and allowances of active and reserve component members into FY2026."
However, there are some exceptions to this, which Snopes previously broke down in December 2024 during a different wave of government shutdown threats.
Cohen's post about the ballroom construction seemed to imply continuing construction would directly impact the pay for soldiers, which was misleading.
For further reading on the government shutdown, Snopes reported on what's open, what's closed and who's affected.